North Korea claims South Korea sent unmanned drones carrying propaganda leaflets to Pyongyang three times and threatened to respond with force if the flights happened again.

In a statement on Friday, North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the drones were detected in the night skies of Pyongyang on October 3 and Wednesday and Thursday this week.

The ministry accused South Korea of violating its “sacred” sovereignty and threatening its security, describing the flights as an “irresponsible and dangerous provocation that may cause an armed conflict and lead to a war between the two sides,” the ministry was quoted as saying by the state news agency KCNA.

The statement added that North Korean forces will prepare “all means of attack” capable of destroying the southern side of the border and the South Korean military.

“The safety lock on our trigger has now been released,” the Foreign Ministry said.

A balloon believed to have been sent by North Korea, carrying various objects including what appeared to be rubbish, is pictured in Incheon, South Korea, June 2, 2024 [Yonhap via Reuters]

South Korea’s Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun said they had not sent any drones into the North.

When asked about North Korea’s claim during a parliamentary audit late Friday, he told lawmakers, “We have not done that.”

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it could not confirm the North’s accusations, but also referred in its statement to Pyongyang’s practice of sending balloons into South Korean airspace, with bags of rubbish attached.

In its statement, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it “cannot confirm the truth of North Korea’s claims”, adding: “All responsibility for the recent series of events” lies with Pyongyang.

It cited “despicable, low-grade and internationally embarrassing acts of filth and garbage balloons and other provocations.” More balloons were being sent on Friday, it said.

Since May, North Korea has sent thousands of balloons carrying paper waste, plastic and other rubbish in what it said was in retaliation against South Korean activists who flew balloons with anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border.

South Korea’s military has responded to the North’s rubbish balloons by using loudspeakers at the border to broadcast propaganda and K-pop.

The new balloons come as North Korea’s army said it would “permanently shut off and block the southern border” with South Korea on Wednesday.

The army added that the defence structures would be built to deal with the South’s and US forces’ “confrontational hysteria.”