North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on Monday said that United States President Donald Trump had declared war on Pyongyang by wowing to annihilate the country in his United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) address.
Ri added that Pyongyang reserved the right to take countermeasures against the Trump's threats, which includes shotting down US bombers even if they are not in the country's airspace.
Referring to Trump's tweet on Saturday -- where he warned the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and foreign minister Ri saying they "won't be around much longer" -- the minister said that if the US President acted on his threats, then it would amount to a declaration of war.
White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders on Monday, however, denied that the US has declared any war, calling the suggestion made by the North Korean minister "absurd."
Ri earlier in New York had told reporters: "The whole world should clearly remember it was the US who first declared war on our country."
"Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to make countermeasures, including the right to shoot down United States 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 added.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho's remarks came hours after 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.
The US bombers' flight was the farthest north of the demilitarised zone separating North and South Korea that any US fighter jet or bomber has flown in the 21st century, the Pentagon said, according to Reuters.
"That operation was conducted in international airspace, over international waters, so we have the right to fly, sail and operate where legally permissible around the globe," Pentagon spokesperson Colonel Robert Manning said on Monday.
After North's latest missile launch and the sixth nuclear test, the US had suggested that its patience for diplomacy with Pyongyang was running out. With North Korea's growing nuclear programme, unbridled missile tests, and the US' threats of military action, a highly plausible prospect of a nuclear war looms over the world.
