North Korea's foreign minister says Trump has declared war on country theguardian.com Sep

Ri Yong Ho says in response to Donald Trump’s comments North Korea ‘will have every right to make countermeasures’, including shooting down US bombers

Ri Yong Ho says in response to Donald Trump’s comments North Korea ‘will have every right to make countermeasures’, including shooting down US bombers


Ri Yong Ho speaks at a news conference on Monday in New York. Photograph: AP
North Korea’s foreign minister has described Donald Trump’s comments at the United Nations last week as a declaration of war and said that Pyongyang reserves the right to take countermeasures, including shooting down US strategic bombers even if they are not in the country’s air space.

“The whole world should clearly remember it was the US who first declared war on our country,” foreign minister Ri Yong Ho told reporters in New York.

“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.”

In his bellicose first address to the United Nations general assembly last week, Trump threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea and repeated his warning that said the US was “ready, willing and able” to take military action.

“The US has great strength and patience,” Trump said. But he added: “If it is forced to defend ourselves or our allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.”