North Korea says US spy plane violated its economic zone, warns of decisive action

North Korea says a US military spy plane has violated the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) multiple times, just a day after Pyongyang warned it could shoot down any American reconnaissance aircraft entering its airspace.

Speaking on Tuesday through a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, said a US spy plane had entered the North’s EEZ eight times on Monday.

She said the intrusion of the economic zone took place off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula 435 kilometers (270 miles) east of Thongchon in Kangwon Province and 276 kilometers (171 miles) southeast of Uljin in North Gyeongsang Province.

Kim added that the North would not respond directly to US reconnaissance activities outside its exclusive economic zone, but warned that it would take “decisive action” if the US military crosses its maritime military demarcation line.

A country’s exclusive economic zone extends 200 nautical miles from the 12 nautical-mile territorial zone around its coast. Within that space, the country has a right to exploit marine resources.

In a separate statement, Kim warned that American forces will face a “very critical flight” if they continue their “illegal intrusion” into North Korea’s airspace. She also repeated her earlier warning that such flights may be shot down by her country’s air defenses.

Calling the issue “one between the Korean People’s Army and the US forces,” Kim went on to tell South Korea to refrain from getting involved in this issue.

Her warning to Seoul came after South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff claimed in a Monday night statement that Pyongyang was escalating tensions by using threats over what it said was “normal flight activity” by the South Korea-US alliance.

The new development came after earlier on Monday, the North threatened to shoot down the United States’ reconnaissance planes in the event that they violated its airspace and crossed into its territory.

Pyongyang issued the stern warning through an unnamed spokesperson of the country’s Ministry of National Defense.

The North Korean official said US reconnaissance planes had recently violated the country’s airspace near the east coast.

“Especially in the East Sea, US Air Force strategic reconnaissance aircraft violated the airspace of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea by tens of kilometers several times,” the unnamed spokesperson said, using the official name of North Korea.

“There is no guarantee that a shocking incident where a US air force strategic reconnaissance plane is shot down over the East Sea will not happen,” the spokesperson added.