N. Korea: Will shoot down Japan spy planes

PYONGYANG, North Korea, June 27 (UPI) -- Any Japanese aircraft entering North Korean airspace will be shot down, Pyongyang warned Saturday.

The North Korean military accused Japan this week of conducting spying missions and warned that it would "not tolerate even a bit" of what it calls aerial reconnaissance by Tokyo, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

A report carried by the official Korean Central News Agency said, "The air force of the Korean People's Army will not tolerate even a bit the aerial espionage by the warmongers of the Japanese aggression forces but mercilessly shoot down any plane intruding into the territorial air of the DPRK (North Korea) even 0.001 millimeter."

Pyongyang said a Japanese E-767 passed over Musudan, the site used for North Korea's long-range rocket launch in April, on Thursday, adding that a Japanese surveillance aircraft had also conducted an aerial espionage mission a day earlier.

Yonhap said analysts believe North Korea may be preparing to test launch another long-range missile.