Saturday, November 1, 2003
US sent 200 spy flights to N Korea in October: Pyongyang
Press Trust of India Seoul, November 1
The United States military conducted at least 200 spy flights against North Korea in October, Pyongyang claimed on Saturday.
Such manoeuvres by the US military questioned Washington's public stance that it seeks a peaceful solution to the standoff over Pyongyang's suspected nuclear weapons programme, Pyongyang's official news agency KCNA said. U-2, RC-135 and other reconnaissance planes of the US military flew "day and night" near the border between the two Koreas to "spy on strategic targets of the (North)," KCNA wrote.
The number of such flights increased from 160 in September, it said. "This fact clearly indicates what they really seek in talking about 'peaceful solution' to the nuclear issue and 'written assurances of nonaggression,'" KCNA said.
Earlier this month, US President George W. Bush proposed that the United States and North Korea's four neighbours provide written security guarantees for the North if it dismantles its nuclear weapons program. North Korea has said it would consider the offer.
In talks with China this week, North Korea agreed "in principle" to return to the six-nation talks aimed at ending the nuclear crisis.
© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2003