North Korea Threatens Retaliation Over South Korean Anti-Pyongyang Propaganda Leaflets

North Korea's threats come after South Korea's Constitutional Court invalidated a 2020 law that penalized anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns, deeming it an excessive restriction on freedom of speech.

North Korea has criticized South Korea's recent decision to invalidate a law banning anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets, claiming such materials constitute psychological warfare.
Park Sang-hak, a North Korean defector-activist, has utilized helium-filled balloons to launch leaflets criticizing Kim Jong Un's leadership, nuclear ambitions, and human rights record into North Korea.
North Korean authorities view this as a significant threat and have warned that they might respond with a 'shower of shells' against the locations from which the leaflets are launched in South Korea.
Tensions between North and South Korea are escalating as military exercises and weapons testing intensify on both sides, and with North Korea considering leafleting as 'high-level psychological warfare' and a possible 'preemptive attack conducted before the start of war'.
On a diplomatic level, North Korea has condemned the planned visits to South Korea by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, describing them as 'warmongers' bringing a 'new war cloud' to Asia.