SEOUL, South Korea (AP) 鈥 North Korea has accused rival South Korea of flying drones to its capital to drop anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets and threatened to respond with force if such flights occur again. South Korea issued a vague denial of the allegation.
North Korea鈥檚 Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday that South Korean drones were detected in the night skies of Pyongyang on Oct. 3 and Wednesday and Thursday this week.
The ministry accused the South of violating North Korea鈥檚 鈥渟acred鈥 sovereignty and threatening its security, and described the alleged flights as a 鈥渄angerous provocation鈥 that could escalate to an armed conflict and even war.
It said North Korean forces will prepare 鈥渁ll means of attack鈥 capable of destroying the southern side of the border and the South Korean military, and respond without warning if South Korean drones are detected in its territory again.
鈥淭he safety lock on our trigger has now been released,鈥 the ministry said. 鈥淲e will be prepared for everything and will be watching. The criminals should no longer gamble with the lives of their citizens.鈥
Asked about the North Korean claims during a parliamentary hearing, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun told lawmakers, 鈥淲e have not done that.鈥 He said he was still trying to assess the situation and didn鈥檛 elaborate further.
It wasn鈥檛 immediately clear whether Kim was referring to South Korean military drones, or also drones possibly operated by South Korean civilians.
The South鈥檚 Joint Chiefs of Staff later said in a statement that it couldn鈥檛 confirm whether the North鈥檚 claims were true, without elaborating why. The joint chiefs warned the North to 鈥渆xercise restraint and not act recklessly.鈥
鈥淚f the safety of our citizens is threatened in any way, our military will respond with stern and thorough retaliation,鈥 it said.
North Korea is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of the authoritarian government of leader Kim Jong Un and his family鈥檚 dynastic rule over the country.
Since May, North Korea has sent thousands of balloons carrying paper waste, plastic and other trash to drop on the South, in what it described as retaliation against South Korean civilian activists who flew balloons with anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border. South Korea鈥檚 joint chiefs said in a separate statement that the North was again flying balloons toward the South Friday evening and warned civilians to beware of objects falling from the sky.
South Korea鈥檚 military responded to the North鈥檚 balloon campaign by using border loudspeakers to broadcast propaganda and K-pop to North Korea.
The psychological warfare campaigns have further escalated tensions created by Kim鈥檚 weapons tests and verbal threats of nuclear conflict against Washington and Seoul. The allies have responded by strengthening their combined military exercises and expanding three-way cooperation with Japan, while also upgrading nuclear deterrence plans built around U.S. strategic assets.
On Wednesday, North Korea said it will permanently block its with South Korea and build front-line defense structures to cope with 鈥渃onfrontational hysteria鈥 by South Korean and U.S. forces.
North Korea鈥檚 military said in a statement on state media that it will 鈥渃ompletely cut off roads and railways鈥 linked to South Korea and 鈥渇ortify the relevant areas of our side with strong defense structures.鈥
North Korea called its steps a 鈥渟elf-defensive measure for inhibiting war and defending the security鈥 of the country and accused its rivals of 鈥済etting ever more reckless in their confrontational hysteria.鈥 North Korea cited what it called various military exercises in South Korea, the deployment of U.S. strategic assets and its rivals鈥 harsh rhetoric.
Experts say Kim鈥檚 nuclear push is aimed at eventually forcing the United States to accept North Korea as a nuclear power and allowing the North to negotiate security and economic concessions from a position of strength.
In written answers to questions by The Associated Press this month, said North Korea will likely stage major provocations such as a nuclear test explosion or an intercontinental ballistic missile test around the U.S. presidential election in November to grab Washington鈥檚 attention.
Yoon also condemned North Korea over its balloon campaign and warned that it 鈥渨ill face consequences that it will find difficult to withstand鈥 if its balloon activities jeopardize the safety of South Korean people. He didn鈥檛 elaborate on what steps his government was considering.
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Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this report.
