North Korea said on Sunday that army units were ready to launch attacks against South Korea after its southern neighbor flew drones over Pyongyang and dropped leaflets.

The Associated Press reported that South Korea refused to confirm whether it had sent drones to North Korea, but warned that it would punish North Korea if it threatened South Korea's population.

According to North Korea, South Korea flew drones into its country three times and dropped propaganda leaflets over the capital Pyongyang. North Korean officials warned they would respond with force if it happened again.

State media reported on Sunday that North Korea's Defense Ministry said its military had issued a preliminary deployment order to artillery and other units near the border with South Korea to prepare to “open fire.”

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North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un grimaces during a news conference on June 19, 2024 in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Contributor/Getty Images)

A ministry spokesman, who was not named, said the North Korean military has ordered units to fully prepare for situations in which they may need to launch immediate strikes on unspecified enemy targets if South Korea sends drones across the border again. the statement says.

The spokesman also said that “there is significant military tension on the Korean Peninsula due to the South's drone flights.”

In another statement on Sunday, the spokesman said South Korea “may be reduced to rubble” after North Korea's powerful attack.

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In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (center) supervises artillery firing exercises in North Korea on March 7, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)

North Korea is no stranger to spouting such heated and harsh rhetoric as tensions rise between it and South Korea and the United States.

Relations between North and South Korea have been strained since U.S.-led diplomacy to end North Korea's nuclear program collapsed in 2019.

Since then, North Korea has pushed to expand its nuclear arsenal and has repeatedly threatened to attack South Korea and the United States with nuclear weapons.

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Balloons are seen from the Unification Observation Post in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee ​​Jin-man)

But experts say it is unlikely that North Korea will launch a full-scale attack because U.S. and South Korean forces outnumber the North's military.

Last week, North Korea said it would permanently block its border with South Korea and build frontline defense structures to counter the “confrontational hysteria” of South Korean and U.S. forces.

Last month, North Korea launched more than 160 balloons that carried garbage across its southern border.

The balloons contained paper, plastic bottles and other household waste found in parts of Gyeonggi province, which surrounds the capital Seoul.

In early September, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it had discovered about 420 balloons that the North claimed to have launched into South Korea.

The bundle of trash is the latest duel between the two Koreas, which have been using Cold War-style tactics since the start of the year, with the North releasing thousands of balloons toward the South filled with waste paper, scraps of fabric, cigarette butts and even manure.

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North Korea says the balloons are in retaliation against South Korean civilian activists flying anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border.

In July, garbage carried by at least one North Korean balloon fell onto the South Korean presidential compound, raising concerns about the threat to key South Korean facilities. Officials said the balloon did not contain any hazardous materials and no one was injured.

South Korea has retaliated with front-line loudspeakers to spread propaganda messages and K-pop songs toward the north.

Bradford Betz of Fox News Digital and The Associated Press contributed to this report.