Seoul - (AFP) - South Korea on Monday accused North Korea of sending a number of drones that crossed its borders, prompting Seoul to deploy warplanes and fire warning shots to repel them.

"Our military first detected a North Korean aerial vehicle marching around Gimpo airspace at 10:25" (01:25 GMT), the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said in a statement.

She added that "a number of North Korean drones invaded our airspace" in the border areas around Gyeonggi Province.

According to the South Korean news agency (Yonhap) that the incursion led to the firing of warning shots and published chases and combat helicopters, South Korea.

It added that one of the warplanes, a KA-1 fighter jet, later crashed in Huengseong.

According to Yonhap, quoting an official at the South Korean Ministry of Transportation, flights were temporarily suspended at Gimpo and Incheon International Airports near the capital for about an hour at the request of the military.

This is the first time in five years that North Korean drones have flown into South Korean airspace.

The incursion comes amid heightened tensions, with Pyongyang conducting an unprecedented series of weapons tests this year.