(3rd LD) Kim's sister warns U.S. military will face 'very critical flight' in case of 'repeated intrusion'

(ATTN: RECASTS lead; ADDS S. Korean military, unification ministry's comments; RESTRUCTURES with minor edits)
By Kim Soo-yeon and Lee Minji

SEOUL, July 11 (Yonhap) -- The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warned Tuesday U.S. spy jets will face a "very critical flight" in case of a repeated illegal intrusion into the North's exclusive economic zone, threatening to take military action.

"I have already notified beforehand the counteraction of our army upon authorization. In case of repeated illegal intrusion, the U.S. forces will experience a very critical flight," Kim Yo-jong said in an English-language dispatch carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The warning by Kim, vice department director of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, came hours after she issued a statement late Monday alleging that a U.S. spy aircraft entered North Korea's exclusive economic zone earlier in the day.

Threatening that North Korea will take "clear and resolute actions" against U.S. surveillance flights within the economic water zone of the North's side beyond the military demarcation line in sea waters, Kim had claimed a "shocking" incident could occur.

Earlier Monday, a spokesperson of the North's defense ministry also accused the U.S. spy aircraft of intruding into its airspace recently, threatening that there is no guarantee such aircraft will not be shot down.

In the latest statement, Kim claimed that U.S. reconnaissance aircraft intruded into the "economic water zone" to commit what she called an "aerial espionage act." She said U.S. surveillance flights encroached on the North's sovereignty.

"The strategic reconnaissance plane of the U.S. Air Force illegally intruded into the economic water zone of the DPRK side in the East Sea of Korea eight times," she said, referring to her country by the acronym of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

She also slammed South Korea for intervening in the issue, arguing that it is "one between the Korean People's Army and the U.S. forces," and called on the South to "stop acting impudently and shut up at once."

South Korea's military has rejected the North's claim of its airspace being violated as "not true" and described flights by U.S. aerial surveillance assets around the peninsula as part of regular surveillance activities.

In a regular press briefing, Col. Lee Sung-jun, spokesperson of Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff, called Kim's latest remarks "not worth a thought," and stressed that South Korea and the U.S. are maintaining a necessary military preparedness posture.

"As you know, the exclusive economic zone is where there is freedom of navigation and overflight, and even if there was a flight over it, we don't use such an expression as an intrusion," he said.

"Given that on the pretext of it, (the North) is making some sort of claim, it can be seen as them having an internal objective or building the rationale for a provocation," he added.

Meanwhile, Kim unusually used South Korea's full name, the Republic of Korea (ROK), in her latest statements, a departure from the North's long-time reference to the South as "south Korea" or "the south Korean puppet."

An official at Seoul's unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said it marks the first case in which Pyongyang used South Korea's full name in an official statement.

The move appears to indicate that the North may be seeking to deal with South Korea as a separate nation in a state-to-state relation.

Under an inter-Korean basic agreement signed in 1991, inter-Korean ties were designated as a "special relationship" tentatively formed in the process of seeking reunification, not as a state-to-state relation.

In early July, North Korea rejected a bid by the chief of South Korea's Hyundai Group to visit the North's Mount Kumgang in August through its foreign ministry, not via state organs in charge of inter-Korean relations.

"In regard to the series of moves by North Korea, the government will not forejudge on its intention and closely monitor the situation," the unification ministry official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Kim's statements using the ROK might apparently signal that North Korea seeks "confrontational co-existence" with South Korea, rather than sounding out an improvement in inter-Korean ties, according to observers.

"As North Korea argued the issue of U.S. surveillance flights is a matter between Pyongyang and Washington, the North appears to stress it will not deal with South Korea when it comes to issues related to the Korean Peninsula," said Yang Moo-Jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies.

mlee@yna.co.kr

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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