More than 1.4 million youngsters in North Korea applied to join or rejoin the military earlier this week, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)

More than 1.4 million young people have volunteered to join or rejoin the North Korean army in response to alleged drone incursions by South Korea, state-run media claimed Wednesday.

The North Korean government detonated explosives on cross-border roads connecting its country to South Korea in response to drone incursions in Pyongyang.

Kim Yo Jong, a senior official in North Korea and sister of leader Kim Jong Un, alleged that “the military dregs of the ROK (South Korea) are chiefly to blame for the case of drone infiltration into Pyongyang,” according to a statement released by state media.

North Korea has put its border artillery units on standby after angrily claiming that South Korea has conducted drone operations in the night skies over its capital, Pyongyang.

South Korea's military said on Monday it was "fully ready" to respond after North Korea ordered troops on the border to prepare to fire in a dispute over drone flights to Pyongyang.

North Korea is getting ready to blow up roads that cross the heavily militarised border with South Korea, Seoul said on Monday, amid an escalating war of words after the North accused its rival of sending drones over its capital Pyongyang.

North Korea has accused South Korea of flying drones into its capital, ratcheting up tensions that have been simmering for months. The drones allegedly scattered propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang in what the North described as a provocation that could lead to "armed conflict and even war".

The sister of North Korea's leader, Kim Yo-jong, accused South Korea on Tuesday of violating Pyongyang's airspace with drones. She stated that Pyongyang has "clear evidence" of the South Korean military's guilt and threatened to "turn South Korea to ashes" if drones appear again.