North Korean minister calls Trump's comments 'declaration of war'

UNITED NATIONS — North Korea's foreign minister says Trump's latest statement was "a declaration of war" against his country.

The minister added the country can shoot down US bombers in international airspace, just days after the U.S. flexed its military might in a display for the DPRK.

American bombers and fighter escorts have flown to the farthest point north of the border between North and South Korea by any such U.S. aircraft this century.

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The Pentagon says the mission in international airspace shows how seriously President Donald Trump takes what's being called North Korea's "reckless behavior." Officials also say the mission sends a message that Trump has "many military options to defeat any threat."

North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, has said Trump would "pay dearly" for threatening to "totally destroy" North Korea if the U.S. was forced to defend itself or its allies against a North Korean attack.

Kim's foreign minister told reporters this past week that the North's response to Trump "could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific."

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Associated Press