The North Korean military announced today that it has ordered artillery units positioned along the border with South Korea to open fire if they detect new drones from the neighboring country.
The artillery units "in the vicinity of the border line" received an order from the military high command on October 12 to "fully prepare to open fire", according to a note from the spokesman for the North Korean General Staff, published by the state news agency KCNA.
The text says that the General Staff considers that "there is a high possibility of further infiltration of drones from the Republic of Korea [the official name of South Korea] into national airspace" and that the preparations were made taking into account "circumstances in which immediate attacks on specific enemy targets are unavoidable" and that it is impossible "to exclude a subsequent armed conflict".
The order is for eight artillery brigades "fully armed in war mode", according to the note, which adds that "anti-aircraft observation posts in the capital, Pyongyang, have been reinforced".
The message comes a day after Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned the South that it faces a "horrible disaster" if it sends drones to the country again, after Pyongyang said that several South Korean drones had recently flown over the capital.
The country said on October 11 that the South sent drones carrying anti-regime propaganda leaflets to Pyongyang at least three times last week, and released photographs of one of the drones taken at night.
Pyongyang did not specify whether the drones were commanded by the South's military or by human rights activists, who regularly send propaganda balloons from the South.
Both South Korea's Defense Ministry and Joint Chiefs of Staff have denied any knowledge of the alleged drones being sent to the neighboring country.
The activists said they had sent drones loaded with leaflets into North Korea in the past.
The drones' detection over the North Korean capital comes after Pyongyang announced last week that it was cutting and fortifying roads and railways connecting it to the South.
The move is in response to a recently passed constitutional amendment that is believed to have unilaterally redone national borders on the orders of leader Kim Jong-un, who earlier this year declared the South its main national enemy.
