North Korea threatens to down US spy planes over its airspace

Pyongyang’s Ministry of National Defence said America has ‘intensified espionage activities beyond the wartime level’.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects the underwater nuclear strategic attack weapon system ‘Haeil’. Picture: KCNA via AFP

North Korea on Monday threatened to shoot down any US spy planes violating its airspace and condemned Washington’s plans to deploy a nuclear missile submarine near the Korean peninsula.

A spokesperson for the North’s Ministry of National Defence said the US has “intensified espionage activities beyond the wartime level”, with “provocative” flights made by US spy aircraft over eight straight days this month, and one reconnaissance plane intruding into its airspace over the East Sea “several times”. “There is no guarantee that such shocking accident as downing of the US Air Force strategic reconnaissance plane will not happen in the East Sea of Korea,” the spokesperson said.

They cited past incidents when Pyongyang shot down US aircraft, and warned the US would pay for its “frantically staged” air espionage. The statement also slammed the planned deployment of US strategic nuclear assets to the ­Korean peninsula as “the most undisguised nuclear blackmail”.

Washington said in April that it would send a nuclear-armed ballistic sub for its first visit to a South Korean port in decades. North Korea has conducted multiple sanctions-busting launches this year, including test-firing its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles, and in May tried to put a military spy satellite into orbit.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will attend the NATO summit in Lithuania this week, seeking stronger co-operation with NATO members over North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats.

AFP