Military, intel officers referred to prosecutors over North Korea drone flights

A South Korean military-police task force referred two military officers and an employee of the state intelligence agency to prosecutors on Tuesday over their alleged support for drone incursions into North Korea, concluding a nearly three-month investigation into the case.

Yoon Jung-geun, senior superintendent of the joint task force, confirmed to NK News that investigators referred one National Intelligence Agency (NIS) employee to civilian prosecutors.

Among three military suspects, two were sent to military prosecutors with recommendations for indictment and one with a recommendation against indictment, he said.

In their referral to prosecutors on Tuesday, investigators recommended that the NIS employee face charges for “ benefiting the enemy ” and violating the Aviation Safety Act . They said the individual had maintained a close personal relationship with the main suspect in the case, a graduate student surnamed Oh, for more than a decade.

The NIS employee, a junior civil servant, is accused of providing Oh with roughly $2,200 (2.9 million won) to cover drone production costs and expenses incurred on the day of a test flight. The task force also alleged that Oh and his associates attempted to use the employee to obtain information on “unusual developments” within the agency when they first flew a drone toward North Korea.

One of the two military officers referred to prosecutors is an army captain who attended university with Oh and allegedly accompanied him during drone launches. The task force has accused him of benefiting the enemy and violating the Aviation Safety Act, stating that he actively assisted the operation by reviewing footage that the drones captured over North Korean territory.

The other active-duty officer holds the rank of captain in the Defense Intelligence Command (DIC) and was referred to military prosecutors on charges of aiding and abetting violations of the Aviation Safety Act. The task force reportedly said the captain initially approached Oh with the intent to use him for official work and directly reviewed drone footage of DPRK areas.

The official was aware that the footage was filmed illegally but nonetheless accepted it while identifying himself as a military officer and considered ways the command might use it, according to the task force.

Authorities said the captain was not charged with benefiting the enemy like the others as no link was established between his actions and a drone flight publicized by North Korea in Jan. 2026.

Senior Superintendent Yoon also confirmed reports that a separate DIC officer was not referred to prosecutors despite being booked on suspicion of providing operational funds to Oh for what investigators described as a “cover news outlet” operation.

The task force said it confirmed that the officer, who held the rank of major, contacted Oh for work-related purposes but not in relation to the drone flights. They added that there was insufficient evidence to conclude the major engaged in criminal conduct.

Tuesday’s referrals come after prosecutors indicted Oh and two other civilians last week for their alleged role in flying drones into the DPRK multiple times since last year.

Pyongyang accused South Korea at the beginning of the year of sending unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into its airspace in September and January, alleging the drones conducted surveillance of military and other sensitive facilities.

Seoul’s defense ministry immediately denied the claims and initiated the joint military-police task force probe under order from President Lee Jae Myung.

Tuesday’s announcement, which marks the end of the task force’s 79-day probe, broadly align with investigative reporting by NK News on Oh’s case, while offering more details the scope and nature of alleged involvement by state personnel.

During the investigation, Oh’s legal representative, Park Se-jun, rejected suggestions that military personnel from the DIC or the NIS employee were involved in the drone flights in any official capacity.

“It is true that some DIC soldiers were partly aware of Mr. Oh’s drone activities, but the flights were not conducted as formal operations,” he told NK News . “It is understood that some of the soldiers cooperated in a personal capacity.”

Regarding the NIS employee, Park said the individual was “simply a longtime acquaintance” of Oh and “was not even aware of the project.”

Park also confirmed that Oh operated two online media platforms, NK Monitor and Global Insight , both of which are now offline. He acknowledged a degree of interaction between Oh and the DIC, stating that his client “partially contributed to overseas human intelligence collection and received some reimbursement from the DIC for related expenses.”

Following the task force’s referrals, South Korean prosecutors will examine the evidence against the two military officers and the NIS employee before deciding whether to indict them.

Edited by Bryan Betts

A South Korean military-police task force referred two military officers and an employee of the state intelligence agency to prosecutors on Tuesday over their alleged support for drone incursions into North Korea, concluding a nearly three-month investigation into the case.

Yoon Jung-geun, senior superintendent of the joint task force, confirmed to NK News that investigators referred one National Intelligence Agency (NIS) employee to civilian prosecutors.

Joon Ha Park is a correspondent at Korea Risk Group. He has previously written on issues related to the two Koreas at The Peninsula Report, and appeared on ABC News Australia, Deutsche Welle and Monocle Radio. He specializes in offering in-depth analyses of South Korea’s defense policy, security relations and domestic politics for Korea Pro.