South Korea on Saturday urged North Korea to drop plans to send thousands of anti-South leaflets across the inter-Korean border, in a statement warning Pyongyang against further exacerbating rising tensions on the peninsula.

The comments, issued by the Ministry of Unification (MOU), follow reports in North Korean state media earlier in the day that efforts are now underway across the country to send “leaflets of punishment” to the South.

The move is reportedly in retaliation against Seoul’s failure to stop activists sending anti-regime leaflets into the DPRK.

“It is very regrettable that