Two Russian military planes on Friday violated South Korea's air defense identification zone (KADIZ) four times and flew away following warnings, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

 The JCS said that the aircraft first entered the KADIZ north of the eastern island of Ulleungdo at 2:08 p.m. and flew out of it 74 kilometers southeast of Pohang at 2:35 p.m. They re-entered the KADIZ at 3:21 p.m. from the east and then left from the northwest of Jeju Island at 3:45 p.m.

At 4:08 p.m., the planes entered the KADIZ northwest of Jeju and flew out of it at 4:32 p.m. At 5:36, they re-entered the KADIZ from the east of the Dokdo islets and left at 5:53 p.m.
 

South Korea deployed its aircraft to send warnings to the planes, the JCS explained.

"Our military dispatched fighter jets for conducting normal tactical measures such as staging maneuvers in response and communicating warnings from the Russian military planes' entry into the KADIZ until their exit," the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

Russian aircraft have entered the KADIZ several times this year, but it is the first time that they have breached it four times in a day, a JCS official said on condition of anonymity.

The Russian planes appear to be TU-95 warplanes, a source said.

Observers presumed that the Russian planes might have violated the KADIZ to practice long-distance operations or to probe neighboring states to check their responses. (Yonhap)