NKorean jets flew near South 10 times: report

North Korean jet fighters have tested South Korean defences by flying near the border repeatedly in the past month, prompting Seoul to scramble aircraft in response, news reports said Monday.

Seoul military authorities refused comment on the reports, which comes amid a flare-up in tensions between the two nations.

On Sunday the communist state's official media claimed that Seoul was planning a preemptive military strike and threatened to turn South Korea into "ashes" if it went ahead.

In the past five days the North has expelled South Korean officials from a joint industrial complex, test-fired missiles, accused Seoul of breaching a disputed sea border and threatened to suspend all dialogue.

Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted military sources as saying the North's jets, including MiG-21s, had flown near the heavily fortified border 10 times since conservative President Lee Myung-Bak was inaugurated in Seoul on February 25.

Jets scrambled each time to intercept the North's aircraft according to their operational rules, said Chosun, the largest-circulation newspaper.

"It is very unusual for North Korean jet fighters to fly southward so intensively in such a short period of time as one month," the paper said. AFP

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