SEOUL, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- A Chinese military aircraft trespassed into the Korean Air Defense Identification Zone, or KADIZ, three times on Thursday.
South Korea's joint chiefs of staff said that one Chinese aircraft entered the airspace from the northwestern side of South Korea's southernmost island of Jeju at 10: 21 a.m. and flew about 20 minutes until it exited at 10: 51 a.m., South Korean media reported.
The plane flew into the Japanese Air Defense Identification Zone, re-entered the South Korean airspace at 11:54 a.m. and left at 12: 51 p.m., according to Yonhap News.
Military officials said that the plane flew toward the north and came down to the south again to where it initially entered early in the morning. The military aircraft is presumed to be a Shaanxi Y-9 surveillance aircraft that entered the South Korean airspace before.
The joint chief of staff said that it's the eighth time that a Chinese military aircraft entered the KADIZ this year, an activity to monitor the joint South Korea-U.S. combined defense capabilities and strengthen their own patrol capabilities.