North Korea threatened military action against US spy planes operating off the country’s east coast, state media reported Tuesday, as a US submarine capable of firing nuclear ballistic missiles planned to strike South Korea for the first time in four decades.
The North is often outraged by the United States’ military reconnaissance activities around the Korean Peninsula. But since Monday it has issued three consecutive statements threatening retaliation against what it called “provocative aerial espionage” by US spy planes and drones.
On Monday, the Defense Department of the North accused a US strategic reconnaissance aircraft of illegally invading its “inviolable airspace” off the East Coast this month.
“There is no guarantee that such a shocking accident as the downing of the US Air Force’s strategic reconnaissance aircraft will not happen,” said an English-language report from the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
In two separate statements later Monday and early Tuesday, Kim Yo-jong, the sister and spokeswoman of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, also said US reconnaissance aircraft committed “a serious breach of sovereignty and security.” . of her country by flying over the economic water zone of 200 nautical miles.
Ms. Kim warned that a “shocking” or “critical” incident would occur if such illegal breaches continued.
To quell the threat, North Korea cited a 1969 incident in which it shot down a US reconnaissance aircraft EC-121, killing all 31 on board.
Both the Pentagon and the South Korean military rejected the North Korean statements as baseless allegations. But officials and analysts in the region fear the North’s escalating rhetoric could lead to military provocations.
“We always operate in a responsible and safe manner and in accordance with international law, so those allegations are just allegations,” Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon deputy press secretary, said Monday. Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the US State Department, urged North Korea “to refrain from escalating actions”.
A country can claim the right to exploit marine resources in its so-called Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends 200 nautical miles from its 12 nautical mile territorial waters. But it has no sovereignty over the surface of the zone and the airspace above it.
South Korea also opposed the eruptions from the north.
“North Korea is making these claims for internal purposes and perhaps to make an excuse to launch provocations,” Colonel Lee Sung-jun, a South Korean military spokesman, said Tuesday. He added that an exclusive economic zone guarantees freedom of sailing and flying for foreign ships and aircraft.
North Korea usually escalates anti-American rhetoric ahead of the July 27 anniversary of the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War to instill fear of the Americans in its people and justify its nuclear weapons program as a military deterrent to war.
In its statement, the North Korean defense ministry harshly criticized the Pentagon’s decision to send a submarine carrying nuclear weapons to call at a port in South Korea “sometime in the future”. When the submarine arrives, it will be the first known visit to South Korea by a US submarine carrying nuclear weapons since 1981.
When President Biden met with his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk Yeol, in April, they agreed to step up joint Allied military exercises and increase the “regular visibility” of US strategic assets around Korea to strengthen US commitment to the defense of South Korea.
The two leaders also agreed to create a new group to discuss nuclear and strategic planning on the peninsula. The group’s first meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday in Seoul.
The North’s comments came as Mr Yoon arrived in Lithuania on Monday to attend a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit where he was expected to join world leaders in condemning nuclear weapons development in North Korea. North Korea’s nuclear threat is also likely to become a topic of discussion as foreign ministers from around the world attend the annual meetings led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, taking place later this week in Jakarta, Indonesia.
North Korea usually becomes more challenging for such international gatherings.
