PYONGYANG, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- A senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) expressed appreciation for the latest statement by a South Korean official admitting drone incursions, and vowed to beef up security along the country's southern border, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday.
"I highly appreciate that Jong Tong Yong, minister of Unification of the ROK, officially acknowledged the ROK-born drone's provocative intrusion into the airspace of our country, expressing regret once again and willingness to prevent reoccurrence on February 18," Kim Yo Jong, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, said in a press statement on Wednesday.
"Terrible consequences will be entailed if such violation of the sovereignty of the DPRK reoccurs, no matter whom the mastermind is and by what means it is carried out," she said.
The DPRK military leadership will take steps to heighten vigilance in all sectors along the southern border, she added.
Three South Korean civilians had sent drones to the DPRK four times since the inauguration of the current administration, the South Korea's minister of unification said in a televised press briefing on Wednesday, warning that such actions are intended to incite hostility and conflict and are "extremely dangerous." ■