Seoul’s Defense Ministry warned of “stern retaliation” against any North Korean provocations Wednesday, amid reports that the North had completed drills to “devastate” South Korean border areas from which balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets were floated.

“Should North Korea mount provocations on the pretext of our civic groups’ spreading of anti-North Korea leaflets, we will sternly retaliate against not only the origin of the provocation, but also forces supporting it and its commanders, as we have already warned repeatedly” said the ministry in a press release.

The ministry refused to confirm whether the North had conducted the drills, saying, “We have no knowledge about it.”

Earlier in the day, the local daily Dong-A Ilbo reported that under the directive of Kim Jong-un, the first secretary of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, the North Korean troops had finished drills to devastate the regions from which the leaflets were flown.

Citing a representative of a group of relatives of people abducted by Pyongyang, the daily said that a senior North Korean military official claimed that the “highest authority of the North’s powerful National Defense Commission” gave the directive to conduct the drills.

Inter-Korean tension has remained high over the leaflets that South Korean civic groups, many of whom are North Korean defectors, have floated from border regions with an aim to awaken North Koreans to the brutality of the dictatorial regime.

The issue of the leaflets has emerged as a key hurdle to improving the cross-border relations, as the two Koreas have moved an inch toward dialogue that has been shelved due to the North’s insistence on nuclear armament and its provocative behavior.

The issue is a highly sensitive one for Pyongyang, as the leaflets condemn its highest authority, namely its leader, and allows its people to gradually realize how they have been mistreated by the regime. Last October, the North fired shots at balloons carrying anti-North Korea leaflets.

Last Wednesday, the Rodong Sinmun, a daily newspaper run by the North’s ruling party, called on the Seoul government to block the civic groups from sending the leaflets, warning that the leaflets would dampen the mood for inter-Korean dialogue.

“Had Seoul done what it should do to prevent the leaflets from being sent from the border areas, the leaflets would not have been scattered. Condoning the criminal acts is tantamount to collusion (with criminals),” said a commentary in the daily.

Amid the angry response from the North, South Korean activists said they would send another set of balloons carrying even DVDs of “The Interview,” an American comedy about a plot to assassinate the North Korean leader.

South Koreans have been divided over the leaflets. Some argued that the leaflets would further worsen cross-border relations and jeopardize the lives of people living near the tense border. Others say the leaflets should be sent to induce a gradual change in the reclusive state, and that their freedom of expression should not be restricted.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)