North Korea Threatens US Military Intruding Its Airspace

ILLUSTRATION/Pyongyang North Korea/UNSPLASH/Micha Brändli

JAKARTA - Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday threatened the United States military would face "a very critical flight" if it "returns to illegal flights", the latest warning against a US spy drone suspected of violating North Korean airspace. 

The warning by Kim Yo-jong, published by North Korea's Central News Agency (KCNA), hours after she issued a statement late Monday accusing US spy planes of entering North Korea's exclusive economic zone early Monday.

“I notified in advance of countermeasures by our military with authorization. If another illegal breach occurs, the US military will experience a very critical flight," Kim said in an English-written news reported by KCNA, as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, July 11.

A spokesman for North Korea's defense ministry on Monday also accused a US spy plane of recently intruding into its airspace, threatening there was no guarantee it would not shoot down such an aircraft.

In the latest statement, Kim admitted that US surveillance aircraft breached the "economic water zone" to carry out what she called "aerial espionage acts". She said US surveillance flights encroached on North Korea's sovereignty.

"US Air Force reconnaissance aircraft illegally entered the DPRK economic waters zone in the East Korean Sea eight times," she said, using North Korea's official acronym, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Kim, the deputy department director of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, threatened that North Korea's military would retaliate for such actions.

She also criticized South Korea for interfering in the matter, saying it was "between the Korean People's Military and US troops," and called on South Korea to "stop behaving insolently and shut up immediately."

South Korea's military denies claims North Korean airspace has been violated and says "it is not true" and lists the flights by US air surveillance assets around the peninsula as part of regular surveillance activities.

"Since North Korea believes the issue of US surveillance flights is between Pyongyang and Washington, it seems to be emphasizing that it will not deal with South Korea when it comes to matters relating to the Korean Peninsula," said Yang Moo-Jin, president of the University of North Korea Studies.