In this photo provided on May 8, 2026, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, center, visits a major munitions factory at an undisclosed location, North Korea Wednesday, May 6, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

Seoul:

North Korea’s artillery units near the border with South Korea have been ordered to be ready to fire amid frictions over drones that Pyongyang says are being flown over the frontier, state media cited the government as saying on Sunday.

Some defectors and activists in South Korea fly aid parcels into the North and drop leaflets criticising leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea has blamed the South Korean military for the practice. It has also been floating balloons with trash into the South in reprisal.

North Korean state news agency KCNA quoted the defence ministry’s spokesperson as saying Pyongyang sees a high likelihood of more drones flying over the capital, with its military told to prepare for all scenarios including conflict.

On Friday, North Korea accused South Korea of sending drones into Pyongyang at night this week and last, and said the intrusion demanded retaliatory action.

Kim Yo Jong, powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, warned Seoul on Saturday of a “horrible disaster”.

She said the blame lies with the South Korean military if it failed to identify drones sent by a non-governmental organization crossing the border.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it could not confirm the North’s accusations.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Visitors look at the North Korean side from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, September 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

North Korea is flying more trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea, officials said Thursday (September 5, 2024) in the latest round of Cold War-style psychological warfare between the rivals.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected more balloons launched from North Korea on Thursday (September 5, 2024) morning following launches the previous evening.

Since May, North Korea has flown thousands of balloons toward South Korea to drop substances such as wastepaper, cloth scraps, cigarette butts and even manure, in what it described as retaliation against South Korean civilian activists who fly anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border.

North Korea is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of its authoritarian leadership and its third-generation ruler, Kim Jong Un.

The joint chiefs said North Korea launched around 420 balloons from Wednesday (September 4, 2024) evening to early Thursday (September 5, 2024) and about 20 of them had been discovered so far in Seoul, the South Korean capital, and nearby Gyeonggi province. It said the balloons that landed were filled with paper waste, plastic bottles and other trash but contained no hazardous materials.

The joint chiefs said North Korea was launching another set of balloons as of 9 a.m. It advised people to report to the police or military if they see any fallen balloons and not to touch them.

An Associated Press photojournalist spotted several sets of white balloons, which were tied in pairs, floating in the air above the inter-Korean border area from an observatory in the South Korean border city of Paju.

Seoul’s city government issued text alerts on Wednesday (September 4, 2024) evening as the North Korean balloons began appearing over South Korean territory, advising people to stay indoors and beware of objects dropping from the sky.

Trash carried by at least one North Korean balloon fell on the South Korean presidential compound in July, raising concerns about the vulnerability of key South Korean facilities. Officials said the balloon contained no dangerous material and no one was hurt.

South Korea, in response to the North Korean balloons, has reactivated its front-line loudspeakers to blast propaganda messages and K-pop songs toward the North.

The tit-for-tat Cold War-style campaigns are adding to tensions fueled by North Korea’s growing nuclear ambitions and South Korea’s expansion of joint military exercises with the United States.

This photo provided by the North Korean government, shows what it says a test fire of tactical ballistic missile at an undisclosed place in North Korea Thursday, May 17, 2024.

North Korea has test-fired a tactical ballistic missile equipped with a “new autonomous navigation system”, state media said on May 18, with leader Kim Jong Un vowing to boost the country’s nuclear force.

Mr. Kim oversaw the Friday test-launch into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, on a mission to evaluate the “accuracy and reliability of the autonomous navigation system”, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The launch was the latest in a string of ever more sophisticated tests by North Korea, which has fired off cruise missiles, tactical rockets and hypersonic weapons in recent months, in what the nuclear-armed, U.N.-sanctioned country says is a drive to upgrade its defences.

The Friday launch came hours after leader Mr. Kim’s powerful sister Kim Yo Jong denied allegations by Seoul and Washington that Pyongyang is shipping weapons to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.

Seoul’s military on Friday described the test as “several flying objects presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles” from North Korea’s eastern Wonsan area into waters off its coast.

The suspected missiles travelled around 300 kilometres (186 miles) before splashing down in waters between South Korea and Japan, the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said.

“The accuracy and reliability of the autonomous navigation system were verified through the test fire,” Pyongyang’s KCNA said Saturday, adding leader Kim expressed “great satisfaction” over the launch.

Also Read | North Korea to launch three new spy satellites, build more nuclear weapons in 2024

In a separate report released on May 18, KCNA said Mr. Kim visited a military production facility the previous day and urged for “more rapidly bolstering the nuclear force” of the nation “without halt and hesitation”.

During the visit, he said the “enemies would be afraid of and dare not to play with fire only when they witness the nuclear combat posture of our state”, according to KCNA.

Pyongyang’s nuclear force “will meet a very important change and occupy a remarkably raised strategic position” when its munitions production plan, aimed to be completed by 2025, is carried out, it added.

Putin’s attention

Seoul and Washington have accused North Korea of sending arms to Russia, which would violate rafts of United Nations sanctions on both countries, with experts saying the recent spate of testing may be of weapons destined for use on battlefields in Ukraine.

North Korea is barred by U.N. sanctions from any tests using ballistic technology, but its key ally Moscow used its U.N. Security Council veto in March to effectively end U.N. monitoring of violations, for which Pyongyang has specifically thanked Russia.

Also Read | The quick transformation of Russia-North Korea ties

But leader Kim’s sister Kim Yo Jong said Friday that Pyongyang had “no intention to export our military technical capabilities to any country”, adding that the North’s priority was “to make the war readiness and war deterrent of our army more perfect in quality and quantity”.

She accused Seoul and Washington of “misleading the public opinion” with their allegations that Pyongyang was transferring arms to Russia.

The Friday launches come as Russian leader Vladimir Putin was in China on Friday, the final day of a visit aiming to promote crucial trade with Beijing – North Korea’s most important ally – and win greater support for his war effort in Ukraine.

North Korea’s latest weapons tests were likely intended to attract the attention of Mr. Putin while he was in China, said Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies.

The North would benefit greatly from an expected visit by Putin to Pyongyang, and “they want their country to be used as a military logistics base during Russia’s ongoing war (in Ukraine)“, he told AFP.

Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said: “China and Russia’s irresponsible handling of North Korea, riding on the new Cold War dynamics, is further encouraging Pyongyang’s nuclear armament.”

Inter-Korean relations are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang declaring Seoul its “principal enemy”.

It has jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and threatened war over “even 0.001 mm” of territorial infringement.