So far apart and yet so close

I took this photograph around 10 minutes after taking off from Incheon bound to Hong Kong in October, 2024 (sorry for the dark spots, my plane’s windows were a bit dirty). The edited picture below shows how insanely close the North Korean border is from Seoul's main international airport.

The northern edge of the runways are a little more than 30 km from the demarcation line. It's not uncommon for air traffic to be disrupted in Incheon because North Korea has sent garbage-laden balloons or drones towards the South, or engages in GPS jamming operations.

If you ever landed or took off from Seoul and wondered why your plane took such a sharp u-turn in the sky, the explanation very clearly stated is in the aeronautical chart at the bottom: “do not fly north!”

Credit: Civil Aviation Authority, Republic of Korea