South Korea’s military said Monday it was “fully ready” to respond after North Korea ordered troops on the border to prepare to fire in an escalating dispute over drone flights to Pyongyang.
The nuclear-armed North has accused Seoul of flying drones over its capital to drop propaganda leaflets filled with “inflammatory rumors and rubbish” and warned Sunday that if another drone were detected, it would consider it “a declaration of war.”
Seoul’s military has previously denied it was behind the flights, with local speculation centering on activist groups in the South, which have long sent propaganda and US currency northwards, typically by balloon.
But the North insists Seoul is officially to blame, announcing late Sunday it had told eight artillery brigades already on war footing “to get fully ready to open fire” and reinforced air observation posts in Pyongyang.
“Our military is closely monitoring the situation and standing fully ready for the North’s provocations,” Lee Seong-joon, a spokesman for the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), told a press briefing.
Pyongyang claims propaganda drones have infiltrated the capital’s airspace three times in recent days, with leader Kim Jong Un‘s powerful sister threatening a “horrible disaster” unless they stop.
In a statement early Monday, Kim Yo Jong said the drone flights were “an unpardonable, malicious challenge to our state.”
She has issued three similar back-to-back statements, calling on South Korea’s military to come up with measures to prevent a recurrence of alleged violations of North Korean airspace.
The JCS on Monday neither confirmed nor denied that Seoul’s military was responsible for sending drones across the border, instead calling the North’s claim “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 ten occasions,” spokesman Lee said.
“It is nothing but a shameless claim.”
Seoul’s unification ministry said the drone claims may be an effort by the North to bolster internal solidarity.
Koo Byoung-sam, spokesperson at the ministry, told a press briefing that the north could also be looking for an excuse “to stage provocations or create anxiety and confusion in our society”.