Pyongyang displays suspected South Korean drone (PHOTOS)

Further military provocations by Seoul risk leading to a declaration of war, the North Korean military has warned

The North Korean Defense Ministry has released photos of what it claims is a South Korean drone. It asserts that it may be the UAV which was used by Seoul to drop propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang earlier this month.

The crashed UAV was discovered in the north-west of the North Korean capital on October 13, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday. One of the images it published was of a plane-type drone, stuck in a tree.
A probe and technical examination of the aircraft has allowed it to confirm that it belongs to South Korea, the statement read.

“In light of the drone’s shape, the presumptive period of flight, the leaflet-scattering box fixed to the underpart of the drone’s fuselage, etc, it is quite likely that the drone is the one which scattered leaflets over the center of Pyongyang Municipality. But the conclusion has not yet been drawn,” the ministry said, as cited by state news agency KCNA.

Pyongyang has warned that if a violation by the South of North Korea’s “territorial ground, air and waters… is discovered and confirmed again, it will be regarded as a grave military provocation… and a declaration of war and an immediate retaliatory attack will be launched.”

Earlier this week, North Korea accused its southern neighbor of sending propaganda leaflet-dropping drones over Pyongyang on three occasions this month alone. Seoul has neither confirmed nor denied the UAV flights, but warned that the North will see the “end of its regime” if it retaliates by targeting South Korea.

READ MORE: North Korea threatens to declare war

North Korea responded to the alleged drone incursions by blowing up road and rail links with the South.