The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday announced its withdrawal from the joint liaison office with the Republic of Korea (ROK) in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

A senior official of the DPRK has threatened to scrap the military agreement with the ROK unless Seoul stops sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the demilitarized zone, KCNA reported on Thursday.

Kim Yo Jong, also 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," said the report.

"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 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," said the statement.

The liaison office was originally operated for round-the-clock communications between the two sides.

The statement also warned that the DPRK will completely withdraw from the Kaesong industrial project and shut down the joint liaison office in the DPRK's border city unless Seoul stopped such actions. 

Shortly after Kim Yo Jong's warning Thursday, the ROK called for an immediate halt to such leaflet-sending and pledged to legislate a ban on such activity. The office of President Moon Jae-in also said that leaflet-sending does "no good but harm" and should be dealt sternly with.

The North-South relationship warmed up in 2018 when their leaders held three meetings on inter-Korean cooperation. But the cooperation stalled after Kim Jong Un failed to reach an agreement with U.S. President Donald Trump during their meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2019.