TOKYO, October 19. /TASS/. The North Korean authorities have announced that they discovered evidence of involvement of the South Korean military in incidents with drone flights near Pyongyang for scattering leaflets. A spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense of the DPRK has said that the remains of a South Korean crashed drone were discovered.

"The experts judged that the drone that crashed in the area of the neighborhood Sopho-dong, Hyongjesan District was a ‘light one for long-range reconnaissance’ of the ROK military and that it is the type same as the vehicle-carried one opened to public at an event marking the ‘ROK Army Day’," the KCNA news agency quoted him as saying.

The General Staff decided to keep the combined artillery units and the units "with important fire duties near the border" in full combat readiness, the defense ministry’s spokesman added. If a violation of the DPRK's territorial ground, air and waters "by ROK's military means" is discovered and confirmed again, it will be regarded as a grave military provocation against the sovereignty of the DPRK and "a declaration of war" and "an immediate retaliatory attack will be launched," he noted.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement on October 11 that South Korean drones had entered Pyongyang’s airspace three times in order to drop leaflets. Pyongyang demanded that Seoul stop these activities, and handed down instructions to put artillery units on the border on full alert. At first, the South Korean military said it had not flown the drones into North Korea, but did not rule out that it had been done by private entities or individuals. Later, Seoul said that it was unable to confirm or deny North Korea’s claims.