The political tension in the Korean Peninsula is getting harder after North destroyed inter-Korean liaison office last week, Andalou Agency says. In a tit-for-tat move, Pyongyang on Monday said it is ready to publish millions of propaganda leaflets to South Korea.
In its efforts to keep the situation, North Korea announced it will release propaganda leaflets and balloons to “teach enemy a lesson”, referring to South Korea, the state-run Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
According to the statement, the NK’s “publishing and printing institutions” in capital Pyongyang have “turned out 12 million leaflets of all kinds reflective of the wrath and hatred of the people from all walks of life”.
The reaction by Pyongyang comes after North Korea blamed South Korea for allowing the spread of anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border over several weeks.
In fact, the situation turned grave last week, after the unprecedented Pyongyang’s move. The N. Korean army attacked and demolished the inter-Korean office in anger over South Korean civilian leafleting against it, snapping all standing communication between the two nations.
Now, “the time for retaliatory punishment is drawing near”, NK statement said.
“As of June 22, various equipment and means of distributing leaflets, including over 3,000 balloons of various types capable of scattering leaflets deep inside South Korea, have been prepared,” the KCNA report said.
Seoul is ready to respond to North’s moves
Despite the two countries under the 2018 Comprehensive Military Agreement set up the no-fly zone along the inter-Korean border, Seoul said it is ready to respond symmetrically.
“We are closely monitoring moves by the North Korean military regarding the leafleting round-the-clock. In preparations for diverse possibilities, we maintain a firm readiness posture,” said Col. Kim Jun-rak, spokesperson of the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), daily Korea Herald reported.
As North noted in its statement, when South Korea experiences how painful and how irritating it is to dispose of leaflets and waste, it will shake off its bad habit.
Taking into account that the 2018 Comprehensive Military Agreement sets up the no-fly zone, the South will be forced to take corresponding military action if North uses drones.
