Korea's JoongAng Daily said on December 29, that Seoul lodged a protest after a Chinese PLA Air Force (PLAAF) Shaanxi Y-9JB electronic warfare and surveillance aircraft flew through South Korea’s air defense identification zone (Kadiz) without notice three times over the course of five hours on December 27. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the PLAAF aircraft entered the Kadiz at around 10:21 a.m. from an area near Jeju Island and exited east of Ieo Island at 10:51 a.m. toward Japan’s air defense identification zone (Jadiz). The Korean Ministry of National Defense summoned a defense attache from the Chinese Embassy in Seoul to lodge a protest and requested working-level talks between the Navy and Air Force. Separately, the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs likewise summoned a diplomat from the Chinese Embassy in Seoul later that afternoon, expressing “regret” over the incident and requesting that such an incident “does not happen again.” 

(Comment: This was the eighth time this year that a Chinese military aircraft entered the Kadiz, flying a similar route, according to the Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).)