Seoul, South Korea — North Korea on Friday accused South Korea of sending drones to drop anti-regime leaflets over Pyongyang, an accusation that Seoul immediately denied.

According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s foreign ministry said South Korean drones have entered Pyongyang at night on three occasions since October 3, scattering “numerous” leaflets.

The ministry called the alleged incursion a “grave political and military provocation” that requires retaliation, warning that the situation could lead to an armed conflict or even war.

South Korea’s military denied involvement, stating it did not send any drones but that it would investigate whether private groups may have launched the leaflets, reported the South’s Yonhap news agency.

In recent months, North Korea has launched thousands of trash-filled balloons into South Korea as retaliation against activists who float anti-Pyongyang leaflets northward across the border.

While South Korean activists have recently employed more advanced types of balloons to send leaflets into North Korea, there are no known reports of them using drones.

The leaflets often criticize North Korea’s human rights abuses or mock its leader Kim Jong Un and are sometimes accompanied by valuable items like dollar bills or USB drives.

North Korea is governed by a third-generation hereditary dictatorship that views virtually all outside information as an existential threat.

In the past, North Korea has used the leaflets as a justification to ramp up cross-border tensions.

When the North began sending waste-filled balloons to the South in May, some analysts cautioned that Kim may be preparing to conduct a more serious cross-border confrontation.

In one particularly provocative move, North Korea in late 2022 sent five small reconnaissance drones across the border, with one making it all the way to the northern edge of the capital, Seoul.

In response, South Korea’s military said it sent a drone into North Korea on a reconnaissance mission. There have been no subsequent reports that South Korea’s military has flown drones into the North.
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