U.S. Warning Over N. Korean Provocation

High-ranking U.S. officials announced on Monday (March 4, Korea) that the U.S. would file an official complaint to North Korea after the incident on March 2nd, where North Korean fighter planes approached and targeted a U.S. military plane that was patrolling in the vicinity of Wonsan.

“The U.S. administration has not decided yet on the process for filing the official complaint, but is considering a plan of contacting North Korean diplomats at the UN,” reported CNN and U.S. media sources.

“The U.S. is holding close discussions with South Korea and allied nations on how to make the official complaint, and what would be the most appropriate way of doing it,” an official at the Department of State said.

“This is the first time that North Korea posed a threat in routine air and naval patrolling activity,” the official also added, “if a complaint is made, it will be through the State Department or the military.”

“It is without a doubt a provocation higher in level than anything we have seen before,” another high-ranking official in the administration said adding, “One miscalculation can cost the lives of many people, and the next confrontation of this kind has the danger of costing the lives of many more.”

Meanwhile, U.S. forces in Korea today reported that North Korean MIG fighters closely approached the US patrol planes on March 2nd, increasing tension, but with no collision occurring.

According to U.S. military sources, four fighters including two MIG 29 planes and two MIG 23 planes closely approached and followed the U.S. reconnaissance plane RC-135, on the morning of March 2nd.

Foreign news reported that the encounter between North Korean fighter jets and the U.S. aircraft occurred at 10:48AM, and lasted for 22 minutes.

“For about 20 minutes, North Korean fighters closely approached and followed the RC-135, which was patrolling the skies over the East Sea 240km from the North Korean coast, and at one time approached as close as 15m,” a source related to the U.S. military said, “Afterwards, the RC-135 returned to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan.”

“The RC-135 plane has been conducting patrols the air over the East Sea for a long time, and we didn’t call for an emergency in the U.S. Armed Forces for this incident,” he added.

It was found that the RC-135 plane, a strategic patrol plane for sea-based collection of electronic information, departed from Kadena Air Base in Japan to patrol the East Sea in preparation for the possibility of the re-firing of North Korea’s improved version of its Silkworm-detached surface to surface missile.

maypole@donga.com ysh1005@donga.com