[Exclusive] National Assembly to Spend 5.2 Billion Won to Prevent Drone Terrorism

Budget Planned for External Drone Surveillance, Disruption, and Capture
"No Standards... Government Needs to Set Criteria"

The National Assembly Security Planning Office is preparing to install anti-drone equipment in accordance with the government's plan to establish a 'drone terror response system for nationally important facilities.' This follows the National Counterterrorism Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, urging institutions classified as nationally important facilities to develop anti-drone systems.

On March 6, soldiers from the 52nd Division and related personnel conducted an anti-terrorism drill at major national facilities, including broadcasting stations around Yeouido, as part of the 2024 FS/TIGER exercise. Photo by Joint Press Corps

According to the 'Summary Report of the National Assembly Anti-Drone System Construction Research Service,' obtained by Asia Economy on the 13th, the National Assembly was recommended to adopt a 'turnkey process' that simultaneously designs and constructs the anti-drone system at a cost of 5.28 billion KRW. The annual maintenance and operation cost is estimated at 510 million KRW. Once implemented, the system will introduce and operate equipment such as 'radars' to monitor threatening drones, 'EO·IR (electro-optical and infrared)' cameras, 'fixed jammers' that emit radio interference signals, and 'net drones' that capture target drones intact.

Through on-site investigations within the National Assembly premises, suitable locations for design and construction were also recommended. The summary proposed introducing a wide-area surveillance system in the Members' Office Building, which has the tallest structure and stable power and communication supply. At the National Assembly level, the focus is expected to be on countering small drone intrusions. It was analyzed that cooperation with the military is necessary for swarm drones numbering over 50 or North Korea's unmanned aerial vehicles classified as medium-sized drones. The report pointed out that regulations for training and educating National Assembly security personnel are insufficient, and the legal authority to neutralize illegal drones is not guaranteed, which needs improvement.

The summary is based on research services conducted by the Korea Institute for Strategic Studies from May to September. In the future, it is expected that the National Assembly's anti-drone system will be integrated with the government's UTM (UAS Traffic Management) and illegal drone response systems.

However, there are voices that allowing individual institutions to develop anti-drone systems without the government first presenting standardized criteria makes integrated responses impossible. An official from the National Assembly Security Planning Office said, "The government needs to establish criteria on where the military's responsibility ends and the civilian sector's begins, whether responses should be facility-based or region-based, and so on."