Originally appeared at ZeroHedge
Having raged at President Trump’s “suicide mission” on Friday, North Korea’s foreign minister Ri Yong Ho called for an impromptu press conference this morning following President Trump’s extended travel ban, in which the diplomat said that Trump’s comments that the DPRK’s leadership would not be around much longer “amount to a declaration of war” and added that North Korea has “every right to take countermeasures against the United States, including to shoot down American jets outside the DPRK’s airspace” as part of its right to self-defense under the United Nations charter.
He did not hold back:
Part 1 of #NorthKorea Foreign Minister speaking to press pic.twitter.com/cWi4LvZ5lF
— Minyoung Park (@minyoungpark) 25 September 2017
And again:
Part 2 of #NorthKorea Foreign Minister speaking to press pic.twitter.com/7GxR4u0jTv
— Minyoung Park (@minyoungpark) 25 September 2017
North Korea’s foreign minister says Trump’s latest statement was “a declaration of war” against his country:
“North Korea has the right to shoot down U.S. warplanes as part of its right to self-defense under the United Nations charter.”“all options are on the table for North Korean response…”
“The whole world should clearly remember it was the US who first declared war on our country,” Ri said to reporters in New York as quoted by Reuters.
On Saturday, Ri delivered a speech at the UN General Assembly in which he stressed that North Korea would inevitably target the US mainland with missiles as Trump called Pyongyang’s leader a “rocket man” on a suicide mission.
The threat to shoot down US bombers comes as the Pentagon reported on Saturday that several B-1B bombers flew in the international airspace just off the North Korean eastern coast. Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said the move was made to showcase US military options available to Donald Trump.
The reaction to this quasi declaration of war was fast and furious:
Stocks are sinking as bonds are bid.
