North Korea threatened South Korean civilian planes flying near its airspace on Thursday and warned that upcoming U.S. and South Korea military drills could trigger a nuclear war, AP reported. The warning from North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland came days before the annual joint exercises are slated to begin and amid concerns Pyongyang is preparing to test-fire a long-range ballistic missile. The North is «compelled to declare that security cannot be guaranteed for South Korean civil airplanes flying through the territorial air of our side and its vicinity ... while the military exercises are under way,» the committee said in a statement.
