South Korea military says ‘fully ready’ as drone flights anger North
SOUTH Korea’s military said on Monday it was “fully
ready” to respond after North Korea ordered troops on the border to prepare to
fire in a 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
rumours and rubbish”, and warned on Sunday that it would consider it “a
declaration of war” if another drone was detected.
Seoul’s military initially denied it was behind the
flights, with local speculation centred on activist groups in the South that
have long sent propaganda and US currency northwards, typically by balloon. But
the North insists Seoul is officially to blame, announcing late on Sunday it
had told eight artillery brigades already on war footing “to get fully ready to
open fire” and also reinforced air observation posts in Pyongyang.
“Our military is closely monitoring the situation
and standing fully ready,” Lee Seong-joon, a spokesman for the South’s Joint
Chiefs of Staff (JCS), told a news 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. Kim Yo Jong
said in a statement early on Monday the drone flights were “an unpardonable,
malicious challenge to our state”. The JCS neither confirmed nor denied on
Monday 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 10 occasions,” spokesman
Lee said. — AFP
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