The US State Department urged North Korea to “refrain from escalating action”.
Seoul:
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, on Tuesday accused a US military spy plane of entering the country’s exclusive economic zone eight times, state media KCNA reported.
Kim warned that US forces would face a “very serious blow” if “illegal intrusions” continued, repeating Monday’s charge that the US violated its airspace by conducting surveillance flights. did. It also warned that such flights could be shot down.
The Pentagon previously rejected Pyongyang’s accusations of airspace violations and said US forces followed international law.
“So these allegations are just allegations,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters.
Kim accused the US Air Force on Monday of intruding into the North’s “economic waters” over the sea 435 km (270 miles) east of Tongchon in Gangwon province and 276 km southeast of Uljin on the east coast of the Korean peninsula. Was accused. North Gyeongsang Province.
A country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) – which extends from 12 nautical-miles territorial zone to 200 nautical miles around the coast – has the right to exploit marine resources, but sovereignty over the surface of the water or the airspace above it does not provide.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller urged North Korea to “refrain from escalating actions” and “engage in serious and sustained diplomacy” when asked about North Korea’s statements at a regular news briefing on Monday repeated.
He asked South Korea to refrain from getting involved in the statement made by KCNA, describing the issue as “a matter between the Korean People’s Army and the US military”.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Pyongyang was using threats to “normal flight activity” by the South Korea-US alliance in a statement on Monday night.
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