By Yi Whan-woo



North Korea threatened Thursday to shoot at activists that send balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets over the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) if they go ahead with their plan, Friday.



Uriminzokkiri, North Korea's propaganda website, warned that the country will fire "aimed shots" at the activists.



The Fighters for Free North Korea (FFNK) announced Wednesday that they will fly some 20 balloons containing more than 500,000 leaflets from a location near the border, Friday.



"We consider such leaflet campaigns as a military provocation and also a declaration of war," the website said. "We'll take firm measures and fire shots mercilessly once the provocative act begins."



FFNK is a Seoul-based group mainly comprised of former North Korean defectors.



The group said the leaflets will carry messages that condemn the reclusive state for launching a landmine attack on the South Korean side of the DMZ last week. The attack left two South Korean soldiers seriously injured and has added fuel to tensions between the two Koreas.



The group added the balloons will be released at Imjingak in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, a few kilometers away from the DMZ.



In the meantime, North Korea has threatened "merciless" retaliation against South Korea and the United States over their joint annual military exercise that is scheduled to begin Saturday and run for 10 days.



Pyongyang's foreign ministry warned Washington Thursday to drop its plan to run the Ulchi Freeom Guardian (UFG) exercise with Seoul, saying it will "be fully responsible for all consequences."



"Unlike in the 1950s, we have a strong military power capable of dealing with every type of war the U.S. wants," the ministry said in a statement. "We won't be defensive and we'll instead take every possible measure to deter Washington's nuclear provocation."



In a separate measure Wednesday, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK), which oversees cross-border issues, also condemned the UFG is as "a drill for a surprise nuclear war" against North Korea.



"Launching such a large-scale joint military exercise is seen as a declaration of war," CPRK said in a statement.



It referred to the fact that the computer-simulated UFG mobilizes some 56,000 South Korean troops and about 30,000 U.S. soldiers, including some 3,000 from the U.S. and other bases in the Pacific region.



"We're fully ready to take countermeasures against the U.S. imperialists," it said. "And South Korea and the U.S. should be aware that their strongholds of aggression and provocation, including the White House and Cheong Wa Da, are in range of our ultra-precision military weapons."



South Korea and the U.S. have claimed that the UFG, which runs every August, is purely defensive in nature.



But Pyongyang has condemned it as a rehearsal for a full-scale attack on the nuclear-armed North, along with other Seoul-Washington military drills. They include Foal Eagle and Key Resolve, which are usually held between February and April every year.



In relation to Pyongyang's landmine attack, South Korea has run a series of heavy weapon, live-fire military drills with the U.S. from Wednesday.



The drills involve tanks, howitzers, attack helicopters and fighter bombers. It will take place four times until the end of this month in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, which is home to the headquarters of the 5th Army Corps.



