A senior official from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) expressed appreciation for the latest statement by a Republic of Korea (ROK) official admitting drone incursions, and vowed to beef up security along the country's southern border, the DPRK's 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 ROK civilians sent drones into the DPRK four times since the inauguration of Seoul's current administration, the ROK's minister of unification, Chung Dong-young, said in a televised press briefing on Wednesday. 

Chung said the investigation results of the joint military-police investigative body revealed four drone infiltrations on September 27, November 16, November 22 last year and January 4 this year.

He warned that such actions are intended to incite hostility and conflict and are "extremely dangerous."