South Korea fires warning shots at Russian warplanes

South Korean jets fired warning shots after a Russian military plane violated South Korea's airspace on Tuesday, Seoul officials said, in the first such incident between the countries.

South Korean fighter jets F-15K bomber drops a bomb over the Korean Peninsula in South Korea on September 18, 2017. [File photo: IC]

Three Russian military planes initially entered South Korea's air defense identification zone off its east coast before one of them entered the country's territorial sky, the South's Defense Ministry said.

South Korean fighter jets then scrambled to the area to fire warning shots, a ministry official said, requesting anonymity due to department rules.

The Russian plane left the area but it returned and violated the South Korean airspace again later Tuesday, the ministry official said. He said the South Korean fighter jets fired warning shots again. Each time, the Russian plane didn't return fire, the official said.

It was the first time a Russian military plane violated South Korean airspace, according to South Korean officials.

(Story includes material sourced from AP.)