North Korea says artillery is ready to “open fire” on the South

Any “provocation” by Seoul will end in a “horrible disaster,” Kim Jong-un’s sister has warned.

The North Korean army has ordered the frontline artillery units “Be fully prepared to open fire” in South Korea after drones originating from the South allegedly dropped propaganda leaflets on Pyongyang, state news agency KCNA reported on Sunday.

North Korea’s government claimed on Friday that the South flew drones carrying propaganda leaflets over the capital on three separate occasions this month, including two flights earlier this week. While North Korea has responded to previous propaganda campaigns by sending balloons filled with garbage and excrement to the South, the latest incidents warrant a military response, KCNA reported.

“The General Staff of (the Korean People’s Army) issued a preliminary operation order on October 12 to combined artillery units along the border … to fully prepare to open fire “. the agency wrote, citing North Korea’s Defense Ministry.

Order placed “Eight artillery brigades fully armed with full war strength on standby to open fire,” the report added.

North Korea is believed to have more than 10,000 artillery pieces dug along its southern border, 6,000 of which are within range of major South Korean population centers, according to a 2020 report by the RAND Corporation, a think tank funded by the US military. If war broke out between the two Koreas, more than 205,000 people could die in Seoul, Incheon, Gimpo and other South Korean cities within an hour, according to the RAND report.

In a statement released by KCNA on Sunday, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, warned that Pyongyang considers the South. “dispersal of leaflets” com “a serious provocation for political reasons and a violation of sovereignty”.

“The moment a (South Korean) drone is discovered in the sky over our capital once again, it will certainly lead to a horrible disaster.” Kim stated.

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun initially denied sending drones into North Korean airspace. However, the country’s joint chiefs of staff declared that they “I cannot confirm whether North Korea’s accusations are true or not.”

The drone spew came less than a month after North Korea announced it had tested a new variant of its Hwasong-11 ballistic missile armed with a “super big” 4.5 ton conventional warhead. This announcement came just weeks after the US and South Korea concluded large-scale military exercises in the region. While Washington and Seoul described the drills as defensive in nature, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry called them out. “provocative war exercises for aggression”.