DPRK FM: DPRK has right to defense itself against the US

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In a statement given on Monday, the foreign minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK), Ri Yong Ho, accused US President Donald Trump of declaring war against his country and said Pyongyang was ready to defend itself by shooting down US bombers.

The White House dismissed the claim as "absurd".

Speaking to reporters outside his New York hotel, Ri responded to Trump, who had warned on Twitter at the weekend that the DPRK "won't be around much longer" if it keeps up its threats.

Ri who attended this year's UN General Assembly session said the international community had hoped that a "war of words" would "not turn into real actions."

"However, last weekend, Trump claimed our leadership would not be around much longer," Ri said. "He declared a war on our country."

The DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho walks to speak to the media outside the Millennium Hotel in New York, US on September 25, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Alarm over Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs dominated this year's gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, amid fears the heated rhetoric could accidentally trigger a war.

Those fears were further heightened after US bombers flew off the coast of the DPRK on Saturday.

"Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to take counter-measures including the right to shoot down US strategic bombers even when they are not yet inside the airspace border of our country," said Ri.

"The question of who won't be around much longer will be answered then."

The foreign minister said the statement from Trump was "clearly a declaration of war" even though, under the US Constitution, Congress is the sole power that can declare war.

US President Donald Trump addresses the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, US, September 19, 2017. /Reuters Photo

The White House disputed the Ri's interpretation of Trump's saber rattling.

"We have not declared war against North Korea and frankly the suggestion of that is absurd," said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Risk of accidental clash

As the rhetoric heated up, South Korea appealed for an easing of tensions, with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha saying that further provocations can be expected from Pyongyang but must not be allowed to get out of control.

"It is imperative that we, Korea and the US together, manage the situation... in order to prevent further escalation of tensions or any kind of accidental military clashes which can quickly go out of control," Kang said in Washington.

South Korea has reacted with unease to Trump's threat to "totally destroy" the DPRK as its densely-populated capital Seoul is located just 35 miles from the demilitarized zone separating the Korean peninsula.

In his UN address last week, Trump delivered the blunt threat and derided leader Kim Jong Un as "Rocket Man" and declared he was "on a suicide mission."

The DPRK leader Kim Jong Un threatens to retaliate against Trump’s UN speech. / Reuters Photo

Kim hit back with a personal attack on Trump, branding him "mentally deranged" and a "dotard" and warning he would "pay dearly" for his threat.

Appeals for calm

There have been repeated appeals for calm from the United Nations, Russia and China.

Asked about the DPRK minister's latest remarks, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric acknowledged the dangerous spike in tensions, saying: "When you have the rise of tension, the rise of rhetoric, so does the risk of miscalculation."

The DPRK in recent weeks detonated its sixth nuclear bomb and has test-fired intercontinental missiles – saying it needs to defend itself against hostility from the United States and its allies.

Just hours before Ri took the UN podium on Saturday, US bombers flew off the east coast of the DPRK, the furthest north of the demilitarized zone that any US aircraft has flown this century.

The Pentagon described the mission as a "demonstration of US resolve and a clear message that the president has many military options to defeat any threat."

The UN Security Council during an emergency meeting over DPRK's latest nuclear test, on September 4, 2017, at UN Headquarters in New York. /AFP Photo‍

A Pentagon spokesman stressed on Monday that the bombers flew in international airspace. "So we have the right to fly, sail and operate and we are [legally] permissible around the globe," he said.

In his UN address, Ri warned that Trump's threat to destroy the DPRK made "our rockets' visit to the entire US mainland all the more inevitable.

The bellicose rhetoric comes as international alarm mounts over Pyongyang's weapons ambitions – including a suggestion by Ri last week that the country is considering detonating an H-bomb over the Pacific.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said such a move would be a "shocking display of irresponsibility."

As tensions over the DPRK reached fever-pitch, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called a snap election, hoping to capitalize on a boost in the polls that some say is linked to his hawkish stance toward Pyongyang.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking to British Prime Minister Theresa May by telephone on Monday, said he hoped Britain could play a constructive role in achieving a peaceful solution via talks.

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Source(s): AFP