North Korea threatens to "punish" US over spy flights

North Korea's Air Force Command has threatened to "punish" the United States for its spy flights over the communist state, recalling the fate of a US Navy plane it shot down 37 years ago. In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency, the air force said that a US RC-135 reconnaissance plane had made flights over its territorial waters on June 6, 8 and 10. Describing the alleged US espionage flights as "openly crying out for a preemptive attack" on the communist state, the command warned of a possible repeat of 1969, when it shot down another US Navy plane, killing all 31 crew. "The (North Korean) Air Force seriously warns the US imperialists that it will sternly punish the aggressors if their planes continue illegally intruding into the sky ... on espionage missions," it said.