Seoul warns N. Korea over anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaign criticism

South Korea's unification ministry has warned Pyongyang to refrain from "acting rashly" after the recalcitrant regime threatened to "pour a shower of shells" into the South over propaganda leaflets criticizing it, Report informs referring to Yonhap.

The warning came a day after the North's Korean Central News Agency carried a commentary claiming that psychological warfare, including the anti-Pyongyang leafleting campaign, will act as a "detonator" for the end of South Korea.

In September, South Korea's Constitutional Court struck down a law banning the cross-border leaflet campaign, saying it excessively restricts the right to freedom of expression.

The ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, has launched a procedure to repeal the guidelines banning floating balloons carrying propaganda leaflets in all areas of South Korea.

"The distribution of leaflets into the North is a voluntary activity carried out by civic groups in accordance with the freedom of expression guaranteed in our Constitution," the ministry said in a statement.

"We sternly warn North Korea against acting rashly and using the Constitutional Court's decision striking down the cross-border leaflet campaign ban as a pretext," it added.