North Korea Boosts Coastal Defenses Following “Declaration Of War” Speech
North Korea appears to be following through with its threat to shoot down US fighter jets and bombers that travel near its airspace, as US jets and bombers did on Saturday, according to a Yonhap report – the latest sign that North Korea intends to follow through with threats made by Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho during a speech outside the UN on Monday.
During the speech, Ri claimed that Trump’s recent tweet that DPRK’s leadership would “not be around much longer” amounted to “a declaration of war” and added that North Korea has “every right to take countermeasures against the US, including to shoot down American jets outside the DPRK’s airspace” as part of its right to self-defense under the United Nations charter.
“The UN Charter acknowledges member states’ right of self-defense,” Ri said outside a hotel near the UN headquarters on Monday. “As the United States has declared a war, even though its strategic bombers don’t cross our border, we will come to own all rights to respond for self-defense including shooting down its planes at any time.”
Less than a day later, North Korea has reportedly boosted its east coast defenses, moving aircraft and fortifying their positions, according to Lee Cheol-woo, the chief of the South Korea National Assembly’s intelligence committee.
“The whole world should clearly remember it was the U.S. who first declared war on our country,” he told reporters in New York on Monday, where he had been attending the annual United Nations General Assembly. “The question of who won’t be around much longer will be answered then,” he said.
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