US LABELS N KOREA ‘WAR’ CLAIM ABSURD
Pyongyang strengthens defences, Seoul appeals for easing of tensions
NEW YORK: The United States dismissed as “absurd” North Korea’s accusation that President Donald Trump has declared war against the regime, after Pyongyang said it was ready to defend itself by shooting down American bombers.
Speaking to reporters outside his New York hotel, Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho responded to Trump tweeting at the weekend that North Korea’s leadership “won’t be around much longer” if it keeps up its threats.
Ri, who attended this year’s UN General Assembly session, said the international community had hoped that a “war of words” would “not turn into real actions.”
“However, last weekend, Trump claimed our leadership would not be around much longer,” Ri said. “He declared a war on our country.”
The White House disputed Ri’s interpretation of Trump’s sabrerattling.
“We have not declared war against North Korea and frankly the suggestion of that is absurd,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Alarm over Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes dominated this year’s gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, amid fears the heated rhetoric could accidentally trigger a war.
Those fears were sharpened after US bombers flew off the coast of North Korea on Saturday — going furthest north of the demilitarised zone that any US aircraft has flown this century. “Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to take counter-measures including the right to shoot down US strategic bombers even when they are not yet inside the airspace border of our country,” said Ri. “The question of who won’t be around much longer will be answered then.”
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said that while Pyongyang did not appear to have picked up the presence of the US B-1B Lancer warplanes over the weekend, it had since moved to bolster its coastal defences.
“North Korea relocated its warplanes and strengthened defences along the east coast,” said Lee CheolWoo, the chief of the National Assembly’s intelligence committee.
Risk of accidental clash: As the rhetoric heated up, South Korea appealed for an easing of tensions, with Foreign Minister Kang KyungWha saying that further provocations can be expected from Pyongyang but must not be allowed to get out of control.
“It is imperative that we, Korea and the US together, manage the situation... in order to prevent further escalation of tensions or any kind of accidental military clashes which can quickly go out of control,” Kang said in Washington.