[Courtesy of Pentagon]
North Korea appeared to be unaware of the overfly of American B-1B strategic bombers last week off its east coast, probably revealing the incompetence of radar systems, according to South Korea's spy agency.
The South's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a report to a parliamentary meeting with lawmakers that Washington disclosed the trajectory of its warplanes around midnight on Saturday near the North's airspace because Pyongyang failed to detect their flight.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said in New York that Pyongyang would defend itself by shooting down American bombers even if they fly in international airspace.
"As long as the U.S. has declared war, from now on, even if U.S. strategic bombers don't fly into our airspace, we will hold all the rights to self-defense, including the right to shoot them down at a time of our discretion. We will see then who lasts longer," he said.
B-1B Lancer bombers from Guam made a rare flight along with F-15 jet fighters in international airspace north of the inter-Korean border. Lawmakers who attended the NIS session said that North Korea did not take any action probably because it was not aware of the sudden flight or its radar system failed to detect it.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
