Kim Yo Jong
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accused a US military spy plane of violating the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone eight times on Tuesday.
Kim warned that the US forces would face a very critical flight if they continued their illegal intrusion, repeating a claim made on Monday that the US violated its airspace by conducting reconnaissance flights. It further stated that such flights may be shot down.
The Pentagon previously dismissed Pyongyang’s claims of airspace infractions, claiming that the US military had followed international law.
“So those accusations are just accusations”, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told media.
On Monday, Kim accused the US Air Force of invading the North’s economic water zone in the sky over the sea 435 kilometres (270 miles) east of Tongchon in Gangwon Province and 276 kilometres southeast of Uljin in North Gyeongsang Province.
The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of a country, which extends 200 nautical miles from the 12 nautical-mile territorial zones surrounding the coast, grants the right to utilize maritime resources within the zone but does not confer sovereignty over the water’s surface or the airspace above it.
When asked about the North Korean claims during a regular news briefing on Monday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller encouraged it to refrain from escalatory actions and to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy.
In a statement released by KCNA, she called the conflict one between the Korean People’s Army and US forces and urged South Korea not to get involved.
In a statement issued Monday night, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff claimed Pyongyang was increasing tensions by making threats over what it described as normal flight activity by the South Korea-US alliance.
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