The North Korean propaganda website, DPRK, released this illustration of a USAF B-1 bomber being struck by North Korea's Pukguksong missile. Yonhap News Agency photo.
North Korea’s foreign minister on Monday accused the US of declaring war through President Trump’s Twitter feed, and said it now is justified in taking steps in self defense including shooting down US bombers.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, speaking outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, said Trump’s rhetoric on claiming his country’s leadership “wouldn’t be around much longer” is a declaration of war.
“Given the fact that this comes from someone that is currently holding the seat of the United States presidency, this is clearly a declaration of war,” Ri said.
His comments come after a USAF B-1B and F-15Cs flew near North Korea over the weekend. Ri claimed North Korea has “every right to make countermeasures, including the right to shoot down the United States strategic bombers, even when they’re not yet inside the airspace border of our country.”
North Korean state media on Sunday released propaganda images that show a B-1B hit by a North Korean missile, along with another picture depicting the USS Carl Vinson hit by a missile, according to the Yonhap News Agency.
The Saturday B-1B and F-15C flight was the furthest north of the demilitarized zone American aircraft had flown this century, and shows that the military has many options to “defeat any threat,” Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a release.