N. Korea threatens to shoot down Japanese surveillance planes

SEOUL, June 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korea threatened Saturday to shoot down any
Japanese aircraft entering its air space, accusing Tokyo of spying on the country
earlier this week.

"An E-767 made a long shuttle flight from air above the waters east of Wonsan to
the air above the waters east of Musudan after taking off from its base in Japan
about 8:30 a.m. on June 25," the North's Korean People's Army (KPA) said in a
report carried by the country's Korean Central News Agency.
Musudan was the site used for North Korea's long-range rocket launch in April
that it claims was for a satellite but is believed by neighbors to have been a
disguise for a ballistic missile test.
The KPA report claimed a Japanese surveillance aircraft had also conducted an
aerial espionage mission on Wednesday.
"The air force of the Korean People's Army will not tolerate even a bit the
aerial espionage by the warmongers of the Japanese aggression forces but
mercilessly shoot down any plane intruding into the territorial air of the DPRK
even 0.001 mm," the report said. DPRK stands for the North's official name, the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
North Korea is believed to be preparing to test launch yet another long-range
missile from its east coast following its nuclear test on May 25.
The communist nation has been severely condemned for its rocket and atomic tests
by the United Nations, but Pyongyang is continuing to raise tension with threats
to reinforce its nuclear arsenal.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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