N Korea Says US ‘Declared War’, White House Calls Remark ‘Absurd’

North Korea’s foreign minister said it had the right to take countermeasures, including shooting down US bombers.

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.  

(Photo: AP/Altered by The Quint)

North Korea's foreign minister said on Monday President Donald Trump had declared war on North Korea and that Pyongyang reserved the right to take countermeasures, including shooting down US bombers even if they are not in its air space.

Ri Yong Ho said a Twitter message by Trump on Saturday in which the President warned that the minister and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un "won't be around much longer" if they acted on their threats amounted to a declaration of war.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders on Monday denied the United States had declared war, calling the suggestion "absurd".

Speaking earlier in New York, where he had been attending the annual UN General Assembly, Ri told reporters: "The whole world should clearly remember it was the US who first declared war on our country."

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Since the US 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 inside the airspace border of our country. The question of who won’t be around much longer will be answered then.

Ri Yong Ho, North Korea’s foreign minister

On Saturday, US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers escorted by fighters flew in international airspace over waters east of North Korea in a show of force after a heated exchange of rhetoric between Trump and Kim over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

North Korea, which has remained technically at war with the United States since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce and not a peace treaty, has been working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles capable of hitting the US mainland and conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test this month.

Heavy Verbal Salvoes

The latest round of heavy verbal salvoes began when Trump threatened in his maiden UN address last Tuesday to "totally destroy" North Korea, a country of 26 million people, if it threatened the United States or its allies.

In an unprecedented direct statement on Friday, Kim responded by calling Trump a "mentally deranged US dotard" whom he would tame with fire.

Kim said North Korea would consider the “highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history” against the US and that Trump’s comments had confirmed Pyongyang’s nuclear programme was “the correct path”.

Ri told the UN General Assembly on Saturday that targeting the US mainland with its rockets was inevitable after "Mr Evil President" Trump called Kim a "rocket man" on a suicide mission.

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Calls For Restraint

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday that the only solution to the crisis was a political one.

China, North Korea's neighbour and main ally, which has nevertheless backed UN sanctions over Pyongyang's nuclear program, called on Monday for all sides to show restraint.

We want things to calm down. It’s getting too dangerous and it’s in nobody’s interest. We certainly hope that (the United States and North Korea) will see that there is no other way than negotiations to solve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula... The alternative is a disaster.

China’s UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi to Reuters

Speaking to British Prime Minister Theresa May by telephone, Chinese President Xi Jinping repeated Beijing's position that the North Korean issue should be resolved peacefully via talks and hoped Britain could play a constructive role in pushing for this, Chinese state media said.

Downing Street said the two leaders agreed there was a particular responsibility for China and Britain, as permanent Security Council members, to help find a diplomatic solution.

Ri warned on Friday that North Korea might test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean, in what would be North Korea’s first atmospheric nuclear test.

Experts said such a move, while perhaps not imminent, would be proof of North Korea's ability to successfully deliver a nuclear warhead on a missile.

(This article has been edited for length)