The defense ministry rebuked the opposition bloc for criticizing its response measures to North Korea’s drone incursion last month.

A spokesperson for the ministry said in a written statement sent to reporters on Sunday that flights into the North by South Korean drones were a corresponding measure taken in self-defense.

It emphasized the need for such a measure in response to the clear violation of the armistice by the North in breaching the military demarcation line with its drones and sending them as far into the South as the northern parts of Seoul.

The ministry said that the armistice does not limit the inherent authority of commanders to exercise the right to self-defense in responding appropriately to clearly hostile acts.

Earlier, main opposition Democratic Party spokesperson Park Sung-joon took issue with President Yoon Suk Yeol’s order to fly South Korean drones across the border in response to the North Korean drone incursion on December 26, saying the president’s “impromptu and lame response” constitutes a violation of the armistice.