South Korea’s military stated on Monday that it is fully ready to respond after North Korea ordered its troops along the border to prepare to open fire due to tensions over drone flights allegedly targeting Pyongyang. North Korea, a nuclear-armed state, has accused South Korea of deploying drones over its capital to drop propaganda leaflets containing “inflammatory rumours and rubbish.”
On Sunday, Pyongyang warned that further drone incursions would be considered a declaration of war.
Initially, Seoul’s military denied any involvement in the drone flights, with local speculation suggesting that activist groups in South Korea—known for sending propaganda and US currency across the border via balloons—may be responsible.
Despite this, North Korea continues to hold the South Korean government accountable, announcing that it had ordered eight artillery brigades to get fully ready to open fire and had reinforced air observation posts in Pyongyang.
North Korea claims that propaganda drones infiltrated its capital’s airspace three times in recent days. Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, described the drone flights as “an unpardonable, malicious challenge to our state” in a statement released early Monday.
The JCS neither confirmed nor denied that South Korea’s military was behind the drone operations, dismissing the North’s accusations as shameless.
“The North can’t even confirm the origin of a drone in the Pyongyang sky but is placing blame on the South — all the while keeping a shut mouth on its sending of a drone southward on 10 occasions,” said JCS spokesperson Lee.
The United Nations Command, responsible for monitoring the armistice that ended the Korean War (1950-1953), has stated that it is investigating North Korea’s claims in line with the Armistice Agreement.
On Monday, Seoul’s military reported that North Korea appeared to be preparing explosions along roads leading to the South, following Pyongyang’s recent announcement that it would seal the border to completely separate its territory from South Korea. The South’s JCS indicated that these blasts could occur “as early as today.”
In a tit-for-tat move, North Korea has been sending balloons filled with rubbish across the border, claiming it is retaliation for the propaganda launched by South Korean activists.
South Korea’s unification ministry suggested that North Korea’s drone accusations may be a strategy to strengthen domestic unity. Koo Byoung-sam, a ministry spokesperson, speculated that the North might also be seeking a pretext “to stage provocations or create anxiety and confusion in our society.”
Yang Uk, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, stated that it is “more likely” the drones were launched by activists in the South rather than being a fabrication by North Korea.
He added that if information delivery via drones becomes a regular practice, it could present a serious threat to the Kim regime, which relies on tightly controlling information flow, with most North Koreans having no access to the internet or external communications.
Meanwhile, former National Intelligence Service chief Park Jie-won, speaking on a radio show on Monday, argued that the South Korean government’s refusal to confirm or deny involvement in the drones was effectively an admission.
