SEOUL -- A Russian military aircraft violated the airspace claimed by South Korea over the Takeshima islands, Shimane Prefecture, on Tuesday morning, according to the South Korean Army's Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The South Korean military deployed an F-15K fighter and other jets to fire a warning shot at the Russian aircraft.
The Russian plane violated the airspace claimed by South Korea twice at about 9:10 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.
Prior to these violations, two other Russian military aircraft and two Chinese military aircraft entered South Korea's air defense identification zone over Ulleungdo island near Takeshima at about 8:40 a.m. and flew in the zone for about 25 minutes.
Countries maintain air defense identification zones outside of their territorial airspace and conduct warning and surveillance activities to prevent foreign military aircraft from entering them.
Tuesday's actions by the Chinese and Russian militaries could be part of joint drills, but South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said their aim was unknown.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry and the National Defense Ministry in Seoul were to lodge complaints over the incidents with officials from the Chinese and Russian embassies.
Although the Takeshima islands are inherently Japanese territory, South Korea illegally occupies them, and the airspace over the islands is outside of Japan's air defense identification zone. The islands are called Dokdo in South Korea.
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