North Korea has accused Seoul of flying drones over its capital – what is going on?

North Korea has accused South Korea of sending drones over its capital, Pyongyang, to drop leaflets critical of leader Kim Jong-un. We look at the reasons behind the North’s reaction, from readying artillery units to fire across the border and preparing to blow up roads linking the two countries.

What has happened?

North Korea has threatened to launch military strikes against South Korea after claiming that the South had used drones to drop leaflets critical of the regime on Pyongyang. The North’s foreign ministry said South Korean drones carrying propaganda material had been detected at night over the capital three times this month.

The state-run KCNA news agency reported that the leaflets were filled with “inflammatory rumours and rubbish”, while the foreign ministry said the breach of Pyongyang’s airspace “could be considered a military attack”.

It isn’t clear what kind of drones the South, or possibly anti-North Korean activists, allegedly used. The South Korean defence minister initially denied Pyongyang’s claims, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff later said in a statement that they “cannot confirm whether the North Korean allegations are true or not”. The only purported image of one of the drones, broadcast on North Korean state television at the weekend, shows a winged white object against a dark sky.

Has this happened before?

This is the first time North Korea has accused its neighbour of using drones to drop leaflets critical of the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, but activists in the South, some of them led by defectors from the secretive state, have used balloons for the same purpose. That triggered a response by the North, which in recent months has flown thousands of balloons carrying bags filled with rubbish – and possibly excrement – across the countries’ heavily armed border into the South.

South Korea has accused the North of flying drones in its airspace in recent years. In December 2022, the South scrambled jets after five North Korean drones were spotted over the greater Seoul area. Its military fired warning shots from a helicopter but failed to bring down any of the drones. The incident prompted South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, to speed up the development of drones capable of spying on North Korean military facilities. Kim Jong-un has shown a personal interest in drone development, pledging in 2021 to oversee the production of more sophisticated machines with longer ranges.

Is this an escalation?

The drone claims have triggered angry exchanges between North and South Korea. That is not unusual, but the row reflects a sharp deterioration in inter-Korean ties in recent months. North Korea said its frontline army units were ready to strike targets in the South if more drones were spotted. In a statement carried by state media on Sunday, the North’s defence ministry said that military had ordered units near the border – known as the demilitarised zone – to “get fully ready to open fire”. That order came as Kim’s influential sister, Kim Yo-jong , described as “suicidal” a warning by the South’s defence ministry that any attack on South Korean citizens would spell the end of the North Korean regime. The discovery of any additional drones would “certainly lead to a horrible disaster” for the South, Kim Yo-jong said. South Korea said on Monday that it has detected signs that North Korea was preparing to blow up the northern parts of inter-Korean roads that are no longer in use, amid the soaring tensions.

Why has the North reacted so angrily?

Much of the regime’s legitimacy rests on its exclusively positive narrative surrounding the Kim dynasty, which has ruled the country since it was founded in 1948. As a result, the regime is extremely sensitive about outside attempts to challenge the cult of personality surrounding Kim Jong-un and, before him, his father and grandfather. The alleged use of drone technology by its neighbour and, since the beginning of this year, “primary enemy”, has enabled the regime in Pyongyang to engage in fiery rhetoric against the South and, by extension, the US – a tactic it uses to enhance its standing among North Koreans. After the most recent incident, a North Korean military spokesperson warned that all of South Korea could be turned into “piles of ashes” by any retaliatory attack by the North. Observers believe North Korea could also be attempting to remind the two candidates in next month’s US presidential election of its ability to foment fear and instability in the region.