North Korea has again urged the South Korean government to exercise control over civic groups' anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaign.

North Korean Workers' Party gazette, Rodong Sinmun, said in an editorial Friday that the defector groups' cross-border leaflet launches amount to the worst political provocation and an act of psychological warfare.

While arguing that the leaflet campaign naturally leads to military retaliation, the newspaper warned that the South Korean government's tacit approval of the activities could spark a full-scale war.
 
It said that the South Korean government is able to regulate and block the activities only if it is willing. The paper then pressed Seoul, saying its position on the matter is a litmus test for gauging the willingness to improve inter-Korean relations.