World in brief: North Korea threatens South

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea threatened to retaliate against South Korea for taking it to the U.N. Security Council over the deadly sinking of a warship, calling the action an “intolerable provocation.”

South Korea officially asked the U.N. Security Council on Friday to punish North Korea, accusing its nuclear-armed communist neighbor of blowing apart one of its warships with a torpedo, killing 46 sailors. On Sunday, North Korea – which denies involvement in the sinking – issued a statement saying the South’s action will intensify military tension and could trigger a war on the divided peninsula.

“That is yet another intolerable provocation to us,” the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification said. The statement was Pyongyang’s first response to Seoul’s request for U.N. action over the March 26 sinking. The North Korean committee said its military will launch a “stern punishment” against South Korea if it doesn’t stop anti-North Korea steps.

Bomb comment delays flight

RONKONKOMA, N.Y. – A 75-year-old man on a plane from Chicago to New York’s Long Island was arrested Sunday after telling a flight attendant he had a bomb in his carry-on luggage, forcing passengers to exit while authorities inspected the aircraft, officials said.

No explosive devices were found on Southwest Airlines Flight 373, a Boeing 737 carrying 137 passengers and five crew members.

Passengers were getting off the plane at the Ronkonkoma airport on Long Island when an attendant noticed a carry-on bag on an empty seat across from the suspect, identified as Draco Slaughter of Chicago, police said. When asked about the bag, Slaughter said it was his bag and “there was a bomb in it,” police said.