North Korea announced on Sunday that its army troops were ready to launch an attack on South Korea after its southern neighbor flew drones and distributed leaflets over Pyongyang.
The Associated Press reported that South Korea refused to confirm whether it had sent drones into North Korea, but warned that it would punish North Korea if South Koreans were threatened.
According to North Korea, South Korea has flown drones into the country three times and dropped propaganda leaflets over the capital, Pyongyang. North Korean officials warned that if the same thing happened again, they would respond with force.
State media reported on Sunday that North Korea's Ministry of Defense said the North Korean military had issued a preliminary operation order for artillery units and other units near the South Korean border in preparation for “open fire.”
North Korea launches new garbage balloon towards South Korea
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un grimaces during a press conference in Pyongyang, North Korea, June 19, 2024. (Contributor/Getty Images)
In a statement, an anonymous ministry spokesperson told North Korean troops that if South Korea sent drones across the border again, immediate strikes against unspecified enemy targets could be necessary. He said he had ordered them to be fully prepared for the situation.
The spokesperson also said that “severe military tensions are rampant on the Korean peninsula” due to the South's drone flights.
In a separate statement on Sunday, the spokesperson said South Korea “could be reduced to a pile of ash” following a powerful North Korean attack.
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In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (center) supervises artillery training in North Korea on March 7, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Agency, Associated Press, File)
North Korea is used to such intense rhetoric when tensions with South Korea and the United States rise.
Relations between North Korea and South Korea have been strained since U.S.-led diplomacy to end North Korea's nuclear program collapsed in 2019.
Since then, North Korea has continued to expand its nuclear arsenal, repeatedly threatening to attack South Korea and the United States with nuclear weapons.
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Balloons are seen from the Unification Observatory in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea on Thursday, September 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin Man)
But experts say North Korea is unlikely to launch a full-scale attack because the US and South Korean militaries outnumber North Korea's military capabilities.
Last week, North Korea announced it would permanently close its border with South Korea and create a front-line defense system to deal with “confrontation hysteria” between South Korean and U.S. militaries.
Last month, North Korea launched more than 160 balloons loaded with garbage across its southern border.
The balloons contained paper, plastic bottles and other household trash found in parts of Gyeonggi Province surrounding the capital Seoul.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced in early September that it had discovered about 420 balloons believed to have been launched by North Korea towards South Korea.
The trash bundle is the latest retaliation between the two Koreas, which have been deploying Cold War-style tactics since the beginning of this year, with North Korea launching thousands of balloons filled with scraps of paper, rags, and fabric toward the south. It's here. Even cigarette butts and fertilizer.
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North Korea claims the balloons are retaliation for South Korean civilian activists who flew anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border.
In July, trash carried by at least one North Korean balloon landed on South Korea's presidential palace, raising concerns about the vulnerability of key South Korean facilities. Officials said the balloon contained no hazardous materials and no one was injured.
In retaliation, South Korea has set up loudspeakers on the front lines and is broadcasting propaganda messages and K-pop songs aimed at North Korea.
Fox News Digital's Bradford Betz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
