North Korea accuses South of flying drones over Pyongyang

North Korea accused South Korea of flying propaganda-filled drones over Pyongyang and threatened “retaliation,” state media reported Friday.  

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff did not confirm or deny the accusations but urged North Korea “not to act rashly,” and said “all responsibility for the recent series of developments lies with North Korea,” referring to trash-laden balloons Pyongyang has been continuously sending to the South.

On Friday evening, North Korea’s foreign ministry claimed that South Korea, “the most hostile, malicious and rogue state, has carried out a severe political and military provocation of infiltrating drones into Pyongyang” and “scattered anti-North Korea leaflets” on three occasions over the past week, state media reported.

The ministry warned that the South would “face a horrible situation if it continues provocations,” the report added.

North Korea’s state-run KCNA published images of what it claimed were a drone as well as pictures of leaflets that said “a comparison of the food you can buy,” and “North Korea’s economic situation falling into hell.”

CNN cannot independently confirm the presence of drones in North Korean airspace.

For many years, South Korean activists and North Korean defectors have sent balloons to the North, loaded with propaganda material criticizing leader Kim Jong Un, along with USB sticks filled with K-pop songs and South Korean television shows – all strictly prohibited in the impoverished, highly isolated nation. Some activists have even fitted GPS trackers to “smart balloons” that can travel hundreds of kilometers.

In 2020, South Korea passed a law criminalizing the sending of anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets over the border as the previous liberal government in Seoul pushed for engagement with Pyongyang.

But many campaigners defied the ruling before it was struck down last year by a court which called the law an excessive restriction on free speech, in response to a complaint filed by North Korean defector-activists in the South.

In response, North Korean authorities have sent more than 1,000 balloons toward the South since May carrying trash, waste and worms – fueling tensions as Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader, warned of “trouble” ahead.

And in 2022, North Korea sent five drones into South Korea, four of which flew around Ganghwa island and another that flew over capital Seoul’s northern airspace.