SEOUL  -  South Korea’s military said on Monday it was “fully ready” to respond after North Korea ordered troops on the border to prepare to fire in a dispute over drone flights to Pyongyang. The nuclear-armed North has accused Seoul of flying drones over its capital to drop propaganda leaflets filled with “inflammatory rumours and rubbish”, and warned on Sunday that it would consider it “a declaration of war” if another drone was detected.

military initially denied it was behind the flights, with local speculation centred on activist groups in the South that have long sent propaganda and US currency northwards, typically by balloon. But the North insists Seoul is officially to blame, announcing late on Sunday it had told eight artillery brigades already on war footing “to get fully ready to open fire” and also reinforced air observation posts in Pyongyang.  “Our military is closely monitoring the situation and standing fully ready,” Lee Seong-joon, a spokesman for the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), told a news briefing. Pyongyang claims propaganda drones have infiltrated the capital’s airspace three times in recent days, with leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister threatening a “horrible disaster” unless they stop. Kim Yo Jong said in a statement early on Monday the drone flights were “an unpardonable, malicious challenge to our state”. The JCS neither confirmed nor denied on Monday that Seoul’s military was responsible for sending drones across the border, instead calling the North’s claim “shameless”.

“The North can’t even confirm the origin of a drone in the Pyongyang sky but is placing blame on the South -- all the while keeping a shut mouth on its sending of a drone southward on 10 occasions,” spokesman Lee said.

The United Nations Command, which oversees the armistice that ended active fighting in the 1950 to 1953 Korean War, said it was aware of the North Korean claim.