South Korea attempted to induce a military clash with North Korea by staging fake strike calls from Apache helicopters near the two countries’ maritime border last year, a lawmaker has claimed, adding to concerns that former President Yoon Suk-yeol sought to spark an inter-Korean conflict to justify his controversial martial law declaration.

Following South Korean media reports, the office of the ruling Democratic Party’s (DP) Choo Mi-ae confirmed to NK News on Tuesday that an army official testified that Apache helicopter pilots deployed near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) made multiple false radio broadcasts between September and November last year indicating they would strike targets in North Korea.