North Korea accuses US of repeatedly entering its economic zone

SEOUL - Ms 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.

Ms Kim warned that US forces will face a “very critical flight” if they continue what the North has called an “illegal intrusion”, repeating an accusation Pyongyang made on Monday that the US had violated its airspace by conducting surveillance flights. It also warned such flights may be shot down.

The Pentagon had earlier brushed aside Pyongyang’s accusations of airspace violations and said the US military had adhered to international law. “So those accusations are just accusations,” Pentagon spokesman Sabrina Singh told reporters.

Ms Kim accused the US Air Force of intruding into the North’s “economic water zone” on Monday off the east coast of the Korean peninsula in the sky above the sea 435km east of Tongchon in Gangwon Province and 276 km south-east of Uljin in North Gyeongsang Province.

A country’s exclusive economic zone – which extends 370km from the 22km territorial zone around the coast – is a right to exploit marine resources within, but does not confer sovereignty over the water’s surface or the airspace above it.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller had urged North Korea “to refrain from escalatory actions” and reiterated a call for it “to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy” when asked about the North Korean statements at a regular news briefing on Monday.

Ms Kim called the issue “one between the Korean People’s Army and the US forces”, and told South Korea to refrain from getting involved.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff had said Pyongyang was escalating tensions by using threats over what it said was “normal flight activity” by the South Korea-US alliance in a statement on Monday night. REUTERS