The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Saturday warned South Korea against building a new light tower near the border after a 43-year-old Christmas tree-shaped tower was dismantled in October.
South Korean authorities are mulling erecting an even larger tower on the front-line from March next year and resume an annual "lighting ceremony" for Christmas, said a report from the Western Command of the Front of the Korean People's Army carried by the official KCNA news agency.
Lighting up the tower on the top of the Aegibong hill -- high enough for the DPRK nationals living in border areas to see it -- is a form of "psychological warfare aimed to rattle the nerves of the DPRK," said the report.
The "lighting ceremony" is a product of the South Korean administration's confrontation policy with fellow countrymen and "a direct declaration of a war," it added.
It also warned South Korean authorities not to forget the "merciless retaliatory will" of the DPRK army to cope with their anti-DPRK leaflet drop operations along the demarcation line.
In October, South Korea pulled down the Christmas tree-shaped tower at Aegibong Peak in the city of Gimpo after growing protests from Pyongyang. The South Korean defense ministry said it was demolished only because the structure had become unsafe.