An RQ-4 Global Hawk sits on the flight line at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Sept. 14, 2019. (Stars and Stripes)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — North Korea on Monday accused the United States of violating its airspace with reconnaissance aircraft and warned that Pyongyang may shoot them down in the future.
North Korea claimed U.S. surveillance aircraft, including the crewed RC-135 and unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk, flew over waters east and west of the Korean Peninsula between July 2 and Sunday “to conduct provocative aerial espionage,” according to a statement from the country’s Defense Ministry published Monday by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
An aircraft “illegally intruded” into North Korea’s airspace over the East Sea by “tens of kilometers, several times,” according to the statement.
“The U.S. will surely have to pay a dear price for its provocative air espionage,” the ministry said, adding “there is no guarantee” that U.S. aircraft would not be shot down over the East Sea. The East Sea is more commonly known as the Sea of Japan.
An Air Force RC-135V/W Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft sits near the flight line at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, April 21, 2023. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)
South Korea’s military denied that its joint aerial reconnaissance with the U.S. had violated North Korea’s airspace and described their operations as routine.
“North Korea’s claim is not true that U.S. spy planes violated its airspace,” South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Lee Sung-jun said at a Monday news briefing. “We strongly urge North Korea to immediately stop committing acts of creating tension through untrue claims like this.”
U.S. Forces Korea did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
U.S. and South Korean aircraft have flown in joint air exercises and B-52H Stratofortress bomber escort missions in the wake of North Korea’s missile launches. The communist regime has fired 14 ballistic missiles in 10 separate days of testing so far this year.
North Korea has intercepted U.S. aircraft flying near North Korea several times since the 1950-53 Korean War.
On March 2, 2003, four North Korean fighters intercepted a U.S. RC-135S Cobra Ball reconnaissance aircraft flying over 100 miles from North Korea’s eastern coast, according to a CBS News report published two days later.
The U.S. spy plane was in international airspace when the North Korean jets came within 50 feet and locked onto the aircraft with its weapons radar before leaving, U.S. officials reportedly said at the time.
In a separate incident on April 15, 1969, a U.S. EC-121M Warning Star surveillance aircraft was shot down by North Korean jets over the East Sea, killing all 31 crew members.
