AMN / web desk
North Korea’s foreign minister has accused US President Donald Trump of declaring war on his country and said Pyongyang had the right to shoot down US bombers.
Foreign minister Ri Yong-ho said this could apply even if the warplanes were not in North Korea’s airspace.
The White House dismissed the statement as “absurd”. The Pentagon warned Pyongyang to stop provocations.
A UN spokesman said fiery talk could lead to fatal misunderstandings.
Mr Ri’s comments were a response to Mr Trump’s tweet that the North Korean leadership would not “be around much longer” if they continued their rhetoric.
“The whole world should clearly remember it was the US who first declared war on our country,” Mr Ri told reporters as he was leaving New York, where he had addressed the UN General Assembly on Saturday.
Ri Yong Ho, foreign minister of the DPRK who is head of the DPRK delegation to the 72nd UN General Assembly in New York, also met and had a talk with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Saturday.
The foreign minister reiterated the will of the DPRK to take the toughest countermeasures as regards the hysteric behavior of the U.S. chief executive who declared a war by threatening to “totally destroy” the DPRK and its people, something unprecedented in the UN arena.
He stressed that the UN should fulfill its duty and mission in realizing the international justice and guaranteeing the genuine peace and security of the world.
The secretary general expressed his view that the Korean peninsula issue should be solved in political and diplomatic way, not a military way.
Meanwhile, Ri Yong Ho met the foreign ministers of Cuba, Belarus and Sweden and permanent representatives of Bolivia, Kazakhstan and Senegal to the UN, the president of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly and the executive officer of the UNDP respectively.
The foreign ministers and permanent representatives of different countries expressed understanding of the principled stand of the DPRK on the situation on Korean peninsula and agreed to develop the friendly and cooperative relations and further strengthen the mutual cooperation in the UN arena.
The president of UNGA expressed deep concern over the growing tension on the Korean peninsula, saying that all the issues should be settled in political and diplomatic way and the executive officer of the UNDP expressed his opinion on the development of cooperative relations between the UN and the DPRK…