North Korea on Monday (July 10th) threatened to shoot down US spy planes that violate its airspace, while condemning Washington's plan to deploy a ballistic missile submarine near the Korean Peninsula.
According to a spokesman for the North Korean Defense Ministry, the United States has "intensified its espionage activities beyond war level," referring to American spy planes that carried out several flights in July, described as "provocative", over eight consecutive days.
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Nuclear blackmail
A reconnaissance plane, he said, also entered North Korean airspace over the Sea of Japan "several times." In a statement quoted by state news agency KCNA, the spokesman warned of the risk of an "accident" that could have resulted from such action, such as the "downing of the US Air Force's strategic reconnaissance aircraft" in the Sea of Japan.
The spokesman referred to previous incidents, in which Pyongyang has already shot down US planes. He also warned Washington that its espionage activities would not be without consequences. The statement also condemned the planned U.S. deployment of strategic assets to South Korea, with Pyongyang calling it "the least covert nuclear blackmail" exerted on North Korea, and saying it posed a serious threat to regional and global security.
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Irreversible
Washington, in accordance with a statement signed in April with Seoul, said a ballistic missile submarine would make its first berthing in South Korea in decades, without specifying the date. Relations between the two Koreas are at an all-time low. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called Pyongyang's status as a nuclear power "irreversible" last year, and called for further development of weapons, including tactical nuclear weapons.
In response, Seoul and Washington vowed that Pyongyang would face nuclear retaliation and the "end" of its current government if it decided to use atomic weapons against them. This year, North Korea conducted a series of weapons tests despite sanctions, including testing its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles.