Pyongyang has alleged that US reconnaissance planes recently trespassed into its airspace in the vicinity of the waters east of Japan, commonly referred to as the Sea of Japan.
The KCNA news agency cited the Ministry of National Defense of Korea’s spokesperson’s statement on July 10, where they accused US reconnaissance planes, including the RC-135, U-2S, and RQ-48, of engaging in provocative flights over the waters of the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea in the past week.
The statement specifically highlighted instances where US Air Force reconnaissance aircraft had trespassed into North Korean airspace by tens of kilometers multiple times in the East Sea.
Pyongyang issued a stern warning, expressing concerns about the potential occurrence of a distressing incident similar to the downing of a US Air Force strategic reconnaissance plane in the East Sea.
Furthermore, North Korea’s foreign ministry strongly criticized Washington’s intended deployment of nuclear-capable submarines to the Korean peninsula, considering it a grave threat to regional stability.
According to the ministry’s statement, the United States’ endeavor to station strategic nuclear weapons in the Korean peninsula poses a direct nuclear threat not only to the DPRK and its neighboring countries but also jeopardizes peace and security in the region and globally.
As of now, Washington has refrained from commenting on the allegations or the warning issued by Pyongyang.
Under an agreement with South Korea aimed at bolstering deterrence, the United States has pledged to dispatch nuclear-powered submarines armed with ballistic missiles to the Korean peninsula. However, no specific timeline has been disclosed. In recent times, an American nuclear-powered submarine made a port call at Busan, South Korea.
