South Korea’s military expressed regret Tuesday over its failure to shoot down five North Korean drones that entered ROK airspace the previous day, attributing its poor response to a “lack of readiness posture” and the small size of the aircraft.

The statement by Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) came after both the ruling and opposition parties criticized the military for not intercepting the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and informing residents of the situation during a five-hour operation on Monday.