President Yoon Suk Yeol has slammed North Korea’s launches of trash-carrying balloons and its new comprehensive strategic partnership treaty with Russia as “anachronistic acts” that go against the progress in history. 

Yoon issued the criticism Tuesday during an event marking the 74th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War in the southeastern city of Daegu.

In a speech, the president denounced the North’s continued launches of trash-filled balloons to the South as a "despicable and irrational provocation," while criticizing its recent signing of a mutual defense treaty with Moscow as a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions. 

Yoon said North Korea is focusing only on the security of the regime while ignoring the miserable lives of its people and brutally oppressing their human rights.

He also criticized Pyongyang for continuously attempting to advance its nuclear and missile capabilities despite repeated warnings from the international community.

The president pledged to protect South Korea’s free democracy and its people from the North’s provocations and threats, vowing an overwhelming and stern response to any provocations from the North.