North Korea has bashed South Korea for its unification policy, anti-Pyongyang leaflet launches and military drills with the United States, calling on Seoul to clarify its stance on the issues.

In a statement issued Wednesday, an unidentified spokesman for the North's National Defense Commission slammed South Korean President Park Geun-hye for her pledge to strive to induce meaningful changes in the North, which the spokesman claimed shows skepticism about Seoul's will to improve inter-Korean ties.

"Do they have a will to achieve the great unity and cohesion ... or to resort to the moves for 'unification of social system'
and 'confrontation of social systems?'" said the statement in English carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Claiming that the Seoul authorities "are scheming to subordinate the dialogue and contacts for national reunification"
to achieve Park's doctrine of gaining a great opportunity of unification, the North called on the South to understand its resolution and will to improve inter-Korean relations.

Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made a charm offensive to the South by expressing his willingness to hold a summit with Park for a "big shift" in bilateral relations.

The communist country, however, also vowed to "sternly act"
against any provocations and military drills by the South in apparent reference to anti-Pyongyang leaflets by some civic groups in the South and the Seoul-Washington joint military exercises.

"Do the South Korean authorities have an idea of bring about a great change through dialogue ... or to persist in the confrontational racket such as leaflet scattering?" the statement
said. "They should make clear on their stand on the problems."  

The leaflet campaign, often led by North Koreans who fled their home country to settle in the South, has long been a major source of tension between the two Koreas, as it aims to stir up dissent against the regime. Seoul has dismissed Pyongyang's demands to ban the campaign, citing freedom of speech. 

The North Korean spokesman also raised suspicions over Seoul's intentions to seek peace, denouncing the South Korean military for its pledge to "continue nuclear war exercise against North Korea."

South Korea and the U.S. have conducted joint military drills which are "defensive in nature" on a regular basis, while Pyongyang calls it a rehearsal for the invasion of the communist country.

"The DPRK will watch the future movement of the South Korean authorities with vigilance," the statement said. The DPRK stands for the North's official name of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

In response, South Korea issued a brief statement calling on the North to stop "making claims not conducive to inter-Korean dialogue and to come forward for talks to practically improve the
inter-Korean ties."  

Stressing its repeated proposal to have inter-Korean talks, the South Korean government once again expressed its willingness "to improve the bilateral relations and to usher in the new era of national reunification."

Seoul's defense ministry said it will continue to carry out joint drills with the U.S.

"As long as the current Seoul-Washington alliance structure exists, the joint drills should go on," ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told a regular briefing. "North Korea's claims do not make sense, as all drills our military conducts are aimed at defending national security."

Meanwhile, government sources here said North Korea filed a complaint with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) against South Korea's leaflet launches in November last year, claiming they pose a threat to aviation safety.

Despite its long-held stance of prioritizing freedom of speech, the Seoul government hinted that it would take action to foil a local civic group's alleged plan to send DVDs of the U.S. movie "The Interview" over the border in balloons, which depicts a plot to assassinate the North Korean leader.

"The government needs to act to guarantee public safety as such a move would lead North Korea to make good on its threats that would hurt our people," said a unification ministry official, requesting anonymity.

"In response to expected threats from North Korea, we will take necessary measures firstly for the safety of the civic group members, and that could eventually prevent them from launching the campaign," he added.

Pyongyang has expressed fury at Sony Pictures over its comedy film and is suspected of hacking the company's servers. (Yonhap)