South Korea 'crashed drone' turns out to be toilet door

SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea's defence ministry said on Wednesday that a suspected crashed drone spotted by a passerby was a false alarm - it was actually the door of a portable toilet.

The passerby had reported seeing what he thought was the wreckage of a drone caught among rocks and trees in a fenced off military area, while walking on a hillside in southern Seoul.

But an investigation team sent to the area found that the object was actually the broken door of a portable toilet, a defence ministry spokesman said.

The door was a similar sky blue colour to three drones recovered by South Korea in March and April.

"The shape from a distance and the colour was probably what created the confusion," the spokesman told AFP.

South Korea's defence ministry said last week it was convinced that three rudimentary unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) recovered in recent weeks were of North Korean origin. Wreckage of the drones was found in three different places, including Baengnyeong island near the rivals' disputed sea border

Seoul said a joint investigation with US experts had provided "smoking gun" proof that the three recovered drones were flown from North Korea and had been pre-programmed to fly over South Korean military installations.

North Korea angrily denied any link with the drones, accusing the South of "fabricating" the evidence.

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