The United States has called on North Korea to engage in dialogue following Pyongyang’s threat to shoot down a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance plane for allegedly entering its airspace. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller urged North Korea to refrain from escalation and emphasized the importance of serious and sustained diplomacy. The U.S. reiterated its willingness to engage in dialogue with North Korea without any preconditions. Additionally, Mr. Miller stated that China, as a major ally of North Korea, could play a role in persuading the country to de-escalate tensions. Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, claimed that the U.S. had flown a reconnaissance plane over North Korea’s economic exclusive zone multiple times. North Korea’s Defense Ministry accused the United States of provocative espionage and threatened to shoot down any reconnaissance plane intruding on its airspace. The Pentagon dismissed these accusations and stated that the U.S. military operates in accordance with international law. The South Korean military also refuted North Korea’s claims and stated that U.S. air surveillance assets regularly conduct reconnaissance flights around the peninsula. In addition, North Korea criticized the United States for deploying a nuclear submarine near the Korean Peninsula, considering it a form of nuclear blackmail. The deployment of the USS Michigan followed North Korea’s firing of two short-range missiles into the sea. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol signed the Washington Declaration, which outlines U.S. extended deterrence measures and the deployment of nuclear-capable systems to the Korean Peninsula.