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Agence France-Presse

North Korea’s foreign minister on Monday accused US President Donald Trump of declaring war against his country and said Pyongyang was ready to defend itself by shooting down US bombers, even if they were outside North Korean airspace.
The White House dismissed the claim as “absurd”.
Speaking to reporters outside his New York hotel, Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho responded to Trump, who had warned on Twitter at the weekend that North Korea “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”.
China ‘must be ready’ for war on the Korean peninsula
“However, last weekend, Trump claimed our leadership would not be around much longer,” Ri said. “He declared a war on our country.”
Alarm over Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes 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 North Korea on Saturday.
“Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to take countermeasures including the right to shoot down US strategic bombers even when they are not yet inside the airspace border of our country,” Ri said. “The question of who won’t be around much longer will be answered then.”
North Korea says attack on America is ‘imminent’ as US bombers show force
The foreign minister said the statement from Trump was “clearly a declaration of war” even if it came from the US president. Under the US Constitution, Congress is the sole power that can declare war.
The White House disputed the Ri’s interpretation of Trump’s sabre rattling.
“We have not declared war against North Korea and frankly the suggestion of that is absurd,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

China on Tuesday urged North Korea and the US to stop their escalating war of words and sit down for talks.
The comments from foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang reinforce China’s position that all sides should avoid provoking each other.
“A war on the Korean Peninsula will have no winner, which will also be a tragedy for regional countries,” Lu told reporters at the daily briefing. “Given our consistent opposition to the war and chaos on the peninsula, we totally disapprove of an escalation of the war of words between the US and North Korea.”
South Korea also 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 ... 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” North Korea as its densely-populated capital Seoul is located just 35 miles from the demilitarised zone separating the Korean peninsula.
Trump calls Kim Jong-un ‘Rocket man on a suicide mission’
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.”
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.
There have been repeated appeals for calm from the United Nations, Russia and China.

Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017

<![CDATA[// ><!]]>

Asked about the North Korean 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.”
North Korea in recent weeks detonated its sixth nuclear bomb and has test-fired intercontinental missiles – saying it needs to defend itself against hostility from the US and its allies.
Just hours before Ri took the UN podium on Saturday, US bombers flew off the east coast of North Korea, the furthest north of the demilitarised 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”.
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 legal permissible around the globe,” he said.




In his UN address, Ri warned that Trump’s threat to destroy North Korea 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 Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has said such a move would be a “shocking display of irresponsibility.”
As tensions over North Korea reached fever-pitch, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called a snap election, hoping to capitalise on a boost in the polls that some say is linked to his hawkish stance toward Pyongyang.

Why North Korea is rekindling China relations

US envoy Waltz touts ‘America first’ policy, budget cuts in Senate swipe at UN

UN watchdog warns North Korea is boosting nuclear weapons capacity

China-North Korea thaw gathers pace as Kim Jong-un says ties have reached a new level

North Korea

North Korea threatens to shoot down US warplanes, even outside its airspace

North Korea Minister for Foreign Affairs Ri Yong-ho speaking at the United Nations. Photo: AP

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho leaves his hotel in New York on September 25, 2017. US President Donald Trump has "declared a war" on North Korea, the country's foreign minister said Monday while conveying a threat to shoot down US bombers. "Trump claimed our leadership would not be around much longer," North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho told reporters outside his hotel in New York. "He declared a war on our country." / AFP PHOTO / Jewel SAMAD

Kim Jong-un brands Trump a ‘mentally deranged dotard’ in rare direct response to UN speech

‘His remarks ... have convinced me, rather than frightening or stopping me, that the path I chose is correct and that it is the one I have to follow to the last’

South Korean President Moon Jae-in speaks during a luncheon with President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at the Palace Hotel during the United Nations General Assembly, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

This undated picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 21, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un visiting a fruit farm at Kwail-?p County, South Hwanghae Province. / AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIS KNS AND AFP PHOTO / STR / South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS THIS PICTURE WAS MADE AVAILABLE BY A THIRD PARTY. AFP CAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, LOCATION, DATE AND CONTENT OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PHOTO IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY AFP. /

This undated picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Friday shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visiting a fruit farm in South Hwanghae Province. Photo: AFP

What military options are open to the US in tackling North Korea?

Donald Trump has threatened to ‘destroy’ the provocative nation, but how could that, or a less extreme goal, actually be achieved?

A U.S. Army soldier from the 2nd Infantry Division's the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team fires his machine gun during a joint military exercise between the U.S. and South Korea at the Rodriquez Multi-Purpose Range Complex in Pocheon, South Korea, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. The U.S. military flew advanced bombers and stealth jets over the Korean Peninsula and near Japan in drills with South Korean and Japanese warplanes on Monday, three days after North Korea fired a missile over Japan. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

U.S. Army soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division's the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team move during a joint military exercise between the U.S. and South Korea at the Rodriquez Multi-Purpose Range Complex in Pocheon, South Korea, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. The U.S. military flew advanced bombers and stealth jets over the Korean Peninsula and near Japan in drills with South Korean and Japanese warplanes on Monday, three days after North Korea fired a missile over Japan. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

TOPSHOT - This undated picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 16, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) inspecting a launching drill of the medium-and-long range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 at an undisclosed location. Kim vowed to complete North Korea's nuclear force despite sanctions, saying the final goal of his country's weapons development is "equilibrium of real force" with the United States, state media reported on September 16. / AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS / STR / - South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS THIS PICTURE WAS MADE AVAILABLE BY A THIRD PARTY. AFP CAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, LOCATION, DATE AND CONTENT OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PHOTO IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY AFP. /

U.S. missile defense system called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, is seen at a golf course in Seongju, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017. Seoul's Defense Ministry on Wednesday said the U.S. military will begin adding more launchers to a contentious high-tech U.S. missile defense system in South Korea on Thursday to better cope with North Korean threats. The deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system has angered not only North Korea, but also China and Russia, which see the system's powerful radars as a security threat. A THAAD battery normally consists of six launchers that can fire up to 48 interceptor missiles, but only two launchers have been operational so far at the site in rural Seongju. (Choo Sang-chul/Newsis via AP)

A US Air Force B-1B bomber, F-35B stealth fighter jets and South Korean F-15K fighter jets fly over the Korean Peninsula during joint drills this week. Photo: South Korea Defence Ministry via AP

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Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho says Donald Trump has already declared war on North Korea, but the White House dismisses the suggestion as ‘absurd’


North Korea nuclear crisis

United States

North Korea threatens to shoot down US warplanes, even outside its airspace

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho says Donald Trump has already declared war on North Korea, but the White House dismisses the suggestion as ‘absurd’

Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho says Donald Trump has already declared war on North Korea, but the White House dismisses the suggestion as ‘absurd’