In the wake of South Korean civic groups' announcement to send anti-Pyongyang leaflets to North Korea, the communist country has issued threats against the activists.

The North's propaganda Web site uriminzokkiri.com said Thursday that it will regard the leaflet distribution as a declaration of war and a military provocation.

The Web site said that once the scattering of leaflet begins, the North will fire mercilessly to completely obliterate the origin of the provocation.

However, North Korean defector groups said their plan to release 500-thousand leaflets toward North Korea at Imjingak in Paju, Gyeonggi Province at 11 a.m. Friday remains unchanged.

The leaflets condemn the North for the recent land mine explosion in the demilitarized zone which maimed South Korean soldiers.

The group stressed that it is the conscientious duty of the defectors to expose the North Korean people to the atrocities perpetrated by the Kim Jong-un regime including the torpedoing of the South's Cheonan Navy vessel.