DPRK accuses U.S. of deploying fighter jets in S.Korea

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Saturday lashed out at the United States for deploying 20 F-16 fighter jets in South Korea.

It is a very dangerous military provocation by massively reinforcing the air force in and around the Korean Peninsula, said the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The DPRK's remarks came after Christopher Hill, the U.S. assistant secretary of state and nuclear envoy to the six-party talks, finished his first visit to the DPRK from Thursday to Friday.

The KCNA's reports said that the United States had transferred 20 F-16 fighter bombers and more than 300 airforce personnel from the airforce base at Aviano, Italy, to the Kunsan airbase in South Korea.

Hill, who arrived here Thursday, is the first high-ranking U.S. negotiator to visit the country in nearly five years amid the latest U.S. efforts to solve the denuclearization issue on the Korean Peninsula and restart the six-party talks.

The talks between Hill and his DPRK counterpart was described by the DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman as "comprehensive and productive," according to the KCNA's report on Saturday.

Source: Xinhua