In this file photo taken on March 2, 2019, Kim Yo-jong, sister of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong-un attends a wreath-laying ceremony at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam. Believed to be in her early 30s, Kim Yo-jong is in charge of propaganda affairs and has frequently appeared at her brother’s major public events including summits with US President Donald Trump and other regional leaders. (JORGFE SILVA/POOL PHOTO VIA AP)

The Republic of Korea’s (ROK) unification ministry urged local civic groups on Thursday to stop distributing leaflets criticizing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) near the inter-Korean border area as it threatens the lives and property of people living near the border.

The ROK government has taken measures to stop the scattering of anti-DPRK leaflets that had led to an escalated tension in border areas

Unification Ministry spokesman Yoh Sang-key told a press briefing that the government has taken measures to stop the scattering of anti-DPRK leaflets that had led to an escalated tension in border areas.

Yoh said most of the floated leaflets were found in ROK territory, noting that the fallen leaflets caused environmental pollution in border area and imposed a burden on people living near the area who had to collect the wastes.

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He noted that such acts endangering the lives and property of people residing near the border should be stopped, saying the government has reviewed the revision of relevant law to fundamentally stop the acts that escalate tensions in border area.

The remarks came after the DPRK lambasted the scattering of anti-Pyongyang leaflets by an ROK civic group composed mostly of defectors from the DPRK.

Under the Panmunjom Declaration, the leaders of ROK and the DPRK agreed to stop all hostile acts in areas near the military demarcation line (MDL), including the distribution of anti-DPRK leaflets.

The declaration was signed by ROK President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un after their first summit in the border village of Panmunjom on April 27, 2018.

A senior official of the DPRK earlier threatened to scrap the military agreement with the ROK unless Seoul stops sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the demilitarized zone, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Thursday.

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Kim Yo Jong, sister of top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un and the first vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, on Thursday issued a statement warning against the senseless act of scattering anti-DPRK leaflets in the frontline areas by "defectors from the north".

"On May 31 I heard a report that so-called "defectors from the north" scattered hundreds of thousands of anti-DPRK leaflets into the areas of our side..." Kim Yo-jong said in the statement.

"The South Korean (ROK) authorities must be aware of the articles of the Panmunjom Declaration and the agreement in the military field in which both sides agreed to ban all hostile acts, including leaflet-scattering in the areas along the Military Demarcation Line," reads the statement.