North Korea began bolstering defenses along its east coast after the regime said President Trump’s tweets warning that leader Kim Jong Un “won’t be around much longer” amounted to a declaration of war, a South Korean lawmaker said Tuesday.
Assembly member Lee Cheol-uoo, saying he had been briefed by Seoul’s spy agencies, said North Korea has moved aircraft to the coast and was taking other measures after the US flew bombers near the Korean peninsula over the weekend.
Citing the president’s Twitter comments about Kim, North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told reporters at the United Nations on Monday that Trump had declared war and Pyongyang now has the right to shoot down US bombers even if they are in international airspace.
“The whole world should clearly remember it was the US who first declared war on our country,” Ri said.
“The question of who won’t be around much longer will be answered then.”
The escalating tensions come as North Korea continues to test-fire intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of striking the US mainland. It also detonated a nuclear device earlier this month that prompted another round of sanctions by the UN.
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In a speech last week to the world body, Trump said Kim, whom he referred to as “Rocket Man,” was on a suicide mission and warned the US would “totally destroy North Korea” if forced to defend itself or its allies.
Pyongyang responded to the speech by saying the US would “pay dearly” and called Trump a “mentally deranged dotard.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday called the suggestion that the US declared war on North Korea “absurd” and said it is never “appropriate to shoot down another country’s aircraft when it’s over international waters.”
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the US is still working on a diplomatic solution and is aiming for a denuclearized North Korea.
“We maintain the capability to deter North Korea’s most dangerous threats, but we also will back up our diplomats in a manner to keep this as long as possible in the diplomatic realm,” Mattis said Tuesday. “Our goal is to solve this diplomatically.”
With wires
