Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, arrives at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur region, Russia, for a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the North Korean leader, Sept. 13, 2023. Reuters-Yonhap 2 Koreas escalate tensions over propaganda leaflets By Lee Hyo-jin Inter-Korean tensions are escalating over propaganda leaflets, as North Korea threatened, Monday, to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to drop leaflets over Seoul.
The North also reiterated its claim that the South Korean military recently sent leaflet-distributing drones into its territory. “It would be interesting to see how they will bark if a drone appears in Seoul and scatters leaflets," Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said in a statement via the North's mouthpiece Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Noting a hypothetical situation, she said, “An unidentified drone appears over Seoul and scatters leaflets denouncing ‘the puppet Yoon,’” apparently referring to President Yoon Suk Yeol.
“Our military, individual organizations, or any individual have not flown any drones, cannot confirm such actions, and do not consider it worth responding to.” Her remarks appear to sarcastically criticize the South Korean military's response to North Korea's claims that the South sent a drone carrying anti-regime leaflets over Pyongyang earlier this month and that they found debris from a UAV of the same type operated by the South Korea's mi.