Seoul, Oct 16 (IANS): 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) reported on Wednesday.

More than 1.4 million youth league officials and youth and students across the country volunteered to join or rejoin the army on October 14 and 15, said the KCNA, following an alleged South Korean drone infiltration into Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.

North Korea called the drone incident "a serious provocation of violating its sovereignty."

The North Korea's Foreign Ministry issued a statement late last Friday accusing South Korea of sending drones over Pyongyang. The South Korean military has denied the accusation, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and Yonhap News Agency.

Earlier on October 14, Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, accused the South Korean military of sending unmanned drones carrying leaflets over Pyongyang in recent days.

"We clearly know that the main culprit behind the Pyongyang drone incident is the trash of the South Korean military," Kim said in a statement.

On Friday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry claimed that South Korean drones carrying anti-North Korean leaflets were detected over Pyongyang on October 3, as well as on Wednesday and Thursday last week, and warned of retaliation if the flights continued.

In the latest sign of the heightened tensions between the two countries, the North Korean military blew up parts of the Gyeongui and Donghae lines north of the Military Demarcation Line on Tuesday.

North Korea has yet to respond to the road explosion claim.