NKorea says US conducted 1,100 spy missions this year

WAR.WIRE

NKorea says US conducted 1,100 spy missions this year
SEOUL, July 1 (AFP) Jul 01, 2007
North Korea has accused the United States and South Korea of conducting at least 1,100 spy plane missions over the communist state in the first half of this year, official media said.

They carried out more than 170 flights in June alone, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said Saturday.

North Korea has issued a monthly report on alleged US and South Korean spy plane missions which it denounces as preparations to invade the communist nation despite repeated denials from Washington and Seoul.

The North is in a standoff with the United States over its nuclear weapons programme. Tensions have been eased since an aid-for-disarmament deal for Pyongyang was reached in February.

The two Koreas, despite recent peace initiatives aimed at ending enmity dating back to the 1950-1953 Korean War, still remain technically at war as the conflict was ended in an armistice not a peace treaty.

KCNA said the US had mobilised such reconnaissance planes as the U-2, RC-135, E-3, EP-3, RC-7B and RC-12 to spy on the North while the South has also used RC-800 and RF-4C aircraft for the spy missions.