North Korea balloons, GPS interference raise safety risks for airlines

Jin Air Co

10/07/2024 06:02

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      GPS 'spoofing' emerges as threat in South Korean airspace
    

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      Trash balloons temporarily shut runway at Incheon airport
    

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      New risks a sign of rising tensions between old rivals
    

  
    By Lisa Barrington
       SEOUL, July 10 (Reuters) - North Korea's trash balloon
campaign, missile launches and the emergence of GPS "spoofing"
have increased risks in South Korean airspace, aviation experts
say, complicating airline operations as tensions rise between
the rival nations. 
    In late May, North Korea began floating thousands of
balloons with bags of trash, including human excrement,
suspended under them into South Korea, in what analysts say is a
form of psychological warfare.
    Hundreds of balloons landed in the South during seven waves
between May 29 and June 27, including one on a runway at Incheon
airport, forcing a three-hour suspension of takeoffs and
landings at its biggest international gateway.
    When the balloons first appeared, aviation navigation
interference from North Korea also spiked, including what
appears to be the first bout of so-called "spoofing" affecting
commercial aircraft in the South.
    "Airspace safety is gradually deteriorating," OPSGROUP, a
membership-based organisation that shares flight risk
information, said in a June bulletin. "There are no official
airspace warnings for South Korea, but the risk situation seems
to be getting worse."
    South Korea's transport ministry said its military, air
traffic control authorities and airlines maintain a 24-hour
surveillance and communication system.
    "The South Korean military detects these balloons using
surveillance assets… day and night," a military spokesperson
said, without giving further details.
    North Korea, which also launched trash balloons in 2016,
says they were retaliation for propaganda campaigns by North
Korean defectors and activists in the South who send items via
balloon. 
    
    
    'QUITE COMPLICATED'
    The balloon flights have several times shut down operations
at Incheon, the world's fifth-busiest international airport and
an important cargo hub, about 40 km (25 miles) from North Korea.
    The balloons have made flying in the area "quite
complicated", said Yun Chan Hwang, general manager of network
operations for Korean Air Lines  003490.KS , which has adapted
procedures to deal with the new hazard. 
    If northerly winds are expected, the airline adds fuel to
flight plans so aircraft can stay aloft longer or divert to
alternative airports, Yun said.
    Disruption caused by the balloon campaign is being
exacerbated by increased signs of interference to the Global
Positioning System (GPS), a network of satellites and receivers
used for navigation.
    Militaries and other actors can broadcast signals that trick
a GPS system into thinking it is somewhere it is not.
    "This could lead pilots to drift off course, with the risk
of straying into North Korean airspace," said Kari Bingen, the
aerospace security project director at the Washington-based
Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
    Between May 29 and June 2 about 500 planes and hundreds of
ships experienced GPS problems, South Korea's government said.
It complained to U.N. aviation body ICAO, which warned North
Korea to stop.
    

    CONSTANT RISK
    GPS interruptions in the South from North Korea have
occurred for more than a decade, but spoofing appears new, said
SkAI, a Swiss company that runs a live disruption map.
    SkAI detected spoofing in South Korean airspace between May
29 and June 2 that affected dozens of planes, co-founder Benoit
Figuet said. 
   "Some of the impacted airplanes were flying quite low in
altitude. We even have seen airplanes being spoofed while being
on the ground," Figuet said.   
    Notifications to pilots issued by South Korea in May and
June warned planes flying around Incheon and Seoul to "exercise
extreme caution when using GPS".
    No major aviation accident has been linked to GPS spoofing
globally, but a business jet flying from Europe to Dubai nearly
entered Iranian airspace without clearance in September 2023,
OPSGROUP said.
    North Korea said last year it would shoot down anything it
deemed a reconnaissance flight entering its airspace. 
    Most airlines avoid North Korean airspace. The U.S. Federal
Aviation Administration bans overflights of North Korea for
reasons including unannounced ballistic missile tests, air
defence capabilities and potential electronic warfare.
    "South Korea's airspace is at constant risk of instability
caused by some kind of political crisis," OPSGROUP said. "Things
have potential to change quickly, and without warning."

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Spoofed flights near Seoul    https://reut.rs/3XTYofI
North Korean trash balloons found in South Korea    https://reut.rs/3LgGaNX
Spoofed flights near Seoul    https://reut.rs/3zzWSFy
North Korean trash balloons found in South Korea    https://reut.rs/45VXgu1
EXPLAINER-What is GPS jamming and why is it a problem for
aviation?     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N3H33UR
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Reporting by Lisa Barrington and Ju-min Park in Seoul. Editing
by Gerry Doyle and Jamie Freed)
 ((lisa.barrington@thomsonreuters.com;))