Chinese Drone Flies Over Japanese Naval Base: Security Breach Sparks Controversy and Concern

◀ Anchor ▶

A Chinese person has caused controversy after he flew a drone over a Japanese Self-Defense Force base and released a video that appeared to be filming a Japanese aircraft carrier.

This Chinese even released a video of an American aircraft carrier stationed at the same base.

Japan’s Ministry of Defense initially hinted at the possibility of manipulation, but eventually had to admit security failures as videos continued.

Reporter Jeon Bong-gi covered the story.

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An aircraft carrier with construction underway in the middle of the deck.

Judging from ship number 76, it seems to be the US nuclear powered aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, whose home port is Yokosuka Port, Japan.

This video, which appears to have been filmed by a drone, was posted by a Chinese person on the X social site on the 8th.

However, at the end of March, this Chinese man also filmed the Japanese Self-Defense Force ship Izumo, also at Yokosuka Base, and uploaded it to a Chinese video site.

It even had a provocative caption: “I piloted a drone and landed on a Japanese aircraft carrier. It’s not a game.”

The Izumo is a ship that has been remodeled for use as an aircraft carrier and is attracting attention from neighboring countries.

Japanese netizens criticized the Ministry of Defense after a video appeared to have been filmed by a Chinese drone flying at low altitude.

At first the Japanese Ministry of Defense emphasized the possibility that it was a manipulative video created by AI.

[사카이 료/해상자위대 막료장(지난달 2일 회견)]

“It is not easy for me to know whether the video is fake or real, but I think there are unnatural aspects of the video.”

However, when the video of the US aircraft carrier was uploaded, the Ministry of Defense had to change its position the next day, saying that it was filmed by a drone that attacked the Port of Yokosuka.

Japan’s defense minister acknowledged the security failure, saying it was a serious problem after it was breached by Chinese drones twice in a month.

[김민석/한국국방안보포럼 위원]

“There must be a special drone defense system to detect such small drones. As for the Japanese military ports, it seems there was no such system at all…”

The Chinese person who uploaded the video revealed that there was no interference during filming, confirming that security was lax.

He mocked the Japanese government again, saying he was grateful, pointing out that the Liberal Democratic Party and the Ministry of Defense held a countermeasure meeting because of his drone video.

Japanese media pointed out that it is difficult to have a detection system worth billions of dollars to prevent Chinese drones worth hundreds of thousands of won, but it is also true that it causes concern about security among the people.

This is Jeon Bong-gi from MBC News.

Video editing: Park Chan-young, Kim Min-ji

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