North Korea on Monday threatened to shoot down U.S. surveillance flights if they continue to violate the country’s airspace. A statement from Pyongyang’s Ministry of National Defense carried in the official KCNA news agency also blasted Washington for plans to send a nuclear submarine to the Korean peninsula which will mean “U.S. strategic nuclear weapons will appear in the peninsula for the first time since 1981.” “This is a very dangerous situation as it will bring the regional military tension to a more critical state and may incite the worst crisis of nuclear conflict in practice,” the statement read. It further described the move as “undisguised nuclear blackmail” and said that while North Korea is currently showing restraint, the U.S. should remember previous incidents in which its reconnaissance aircraft had been shot down. “The U.S. will surely have to pay a dear price for its provocative air espionage,” the statement continued. “There is no guarantee that such a shocking accident as the downing of the U.S. Air Force strategic reconnaissance plane will not happen” in the waters east of Korea, it added.
