North Korea issued a scathing response to South Korea’s warning over the North's recent provocations. 

In a commentary on Friday, the regime’s official Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) accused the South of causing a catastrophic end to inter-Korean ties and senselessly blaming Pyongyang for the latest developments. 

The outlet argued that South Korean government officials were the ones who blocked every chance for bilateral contact and demanded Seoul to reflect on its actions over the past two years. 

It also claimed that the South reported to Washington every dealing with the North through the “bridle” of a joint working group and that it was tired of seeing the South seek U.S. approval and making requests. 

The KCNA also accused the South of staging friendly overtures on the surface, while waging war practices behind its back and bringing in new weaponry by spending an astronomical amount of taxpayers money. 

KCNA also said every action the North took recently was "punishment" commensurate with what it called crimes by the South and urged Seoul to stop passing the buck for the deterioration in inter-Korean relations. 

Regarding defector-led anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns which the North has cited as an explicit reason for its recent moves against the South, KCNA claimed that 13 rounds of leaflet campaigns have been carried out since last year. 

The outlet said Pyongyang decided to stop being generous toward the leaflet campaigns, saying they have become a stumbling block to quarantine efforts amid the coronavirus pandemic and insulted its supreme leader.