The government has reaffirmed its stance on not demanding North Korean defector groups in South Korea to refrain from flying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets into the North.

Unification ministry spokesperson Koo Byoung-sam said on Monday that Seoul is not considering making such requests in light of the Constitutional Court's ruling last September that freedom of expression regarding the leaflet activity should be guaranteed.

While the government intends to control such activity through the police under a state of emergency due to the North's armed provocations, the spokesperson said appropriate steps are expected to be taken when deemed necessary.

The affirmation comes after Pyongyang declared on Sunday a tentative halt to its recent launch of trash-carrying balloons to the South, so long as civic groups in the South don't resume their anti-North leaflet activity.

Park Sang-hak, the head of Fighters for a Free North Korea, told Yonhap News Agency his group has no immediate plans to send propaganda materials over the border, and that it would consider a tentative suspension if North Korean leader Kim Jong-un apologizes for flying the trash balloons.