North Korea warns US over spy flights
SEOUL, June 22 (Reuters) North Korea today said the chances of an aerial confrontation with the United States have increased because of US spy flights over the secretive state.
The North's KCNA news agency said in a report in Korean: ''Because of US reconnaissance planes' illegal intrusion and espionage activities in our aerial space, the danger of a military confrontation has been acutely created.'' The statement, picked up by South Korea's Yonhap news agency, comes as officials in Washington say there is evidence North Korea may be preparing to test-fire a long-range missile.
North Korea regularly criticises the United States for conducting reconnaissance flights, often in alarmist terms, but this latest report appeared to spook world foreign exchange markets.
The Japanese yen fell sharply against the US dollar on rumours, later denied, that a US plane might have crashed in North Korea.
Spokesmen for US Forces Korea said they had not heard of any such crash.
A spokesman for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said they had no information about any US plane crash north of the border.
Reuters PR GC1452