The government has reiterated that it will take the necessary steps if the safety of South Korean residents in the border area is endangered by the spread of anti-North Korea leaflets.
 
Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol said during a regular news briefing on Monday that the government cannot forcibly block the leaflet campaign because it is a matter of freedom of speech.
 
Lim said that the government is considering taking measures, such as holding talks with the civic groups that plan to fly anti-Pyongyang leaflets in balloons or drones over the border.
 
Some groups, including Fighters for Free North Korea, remain firm on sending the leaflets around Thursday, which is the fifth anniversary of the North's deadly sinking of a South Korean naval ship, the Cheonan.
 
The North warned over the weekend that its troops would mobilize “every firepower strike means” to blow up the balloons or drones without warning.