North Korea sends warning to South Korea, saying troops ready to strike if more drones appear

North Korea announced Sunday that army units are prepared to launch strikes against South Korea, after its neighbor to the south flew drones over Pyongyang and dropped leaflets.

The Associated Press reported that South Korea has refused to confirm if it sent drones into North Korea but warned it would punish North Korea if the people of South Korea are threatened.

According to North Korea, South Korea flew drones into its country three times and dropped propaganda leaflets over the capital city of Pyongyang. North Korean officials warned if it happens again, they will respond with force.

State media reported Sunday that the North’s Defense Ministry said its military issued a preliminary operation order to artillery and other units near the border of South Korea to be prepared to "open fire."

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A spokesperson for the ministry who remained unidentified said North Korea’s military ordered units to fully prepare for situations in which they may need to launch immediate strikes on unspecified enemy targets, if South Korea sends drones across the border again, according to the statement.

The spokesperson also said "grave tough-and-go military tensions are prevailing on the Korean Peninsula" due to the south’s drone flights.

In another statement on Sunday, the spokesperson said South Korea "might turn into piles of ashes" after North Korea’s powerful attack.

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North Korea is no stranger to issuing such fiery and blistering rhetoric when tensions between it and South Korea and the U.S. become elevated.

Relations between North and South Korea have been tense since a U.S.-led diplomacy to end North Korea’s nuclear program disintegrated in 2019.

Since then, North Korea has pushed to expand its nuclear arsenal and has repeatedly threatened to attack South Korea and the U.S. with nuclear weapons.

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Experts, though, say it is unlikely North Korea will launch a full-blown attack because the U.S. and South Korean forces outpace the north’s military.

Last Week, North Korea said it would permanently block its border with South Korea and build front-line defense structures to cope with "confrontational hysteria" by South Korean and U.S. forces.

Last month, North Korea launched more than 160 balloons carrying trash across the southern border.

Inside the balloons were paper, plastic bottles and other household garbage, which were found in parts of Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds the capital of Seoul.

Earlier in September, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected about 420 balloons that the north allegedly launched into South Korea.

The trash bundle is the latest tit-for-tat between the two Koreas, which have been engaging in Cold War-style tactics since earlier this year, with the North having flown thousands of balloons toward the South, filled with wastepaper, cloth scraps, cigarette butts and even manure. 

North Korea says the balloons are in retaliation against South Korean civilian activists who fly anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border.

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 materials and that no one was hurt.

South Korea has retaliated with front-line loudspeakers to blast propaganda messages and K-pop songs toward the North.

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.