Seoul, Jun 13 (IANS): North Korea has said that it has lost all confidence in the South Korean government and warned of "regretful and painful" times ahead, the media reported on Saturday.

Jang Kum-chol, director of the North's United Front Department, made the statement to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Friday, referring to South Korea's recent vow to deal strictly with activists' flying of anti-Pyongyang leaflets into Pyongyang, reports Yonhap News Agency.

"Their statement sounds like an apology or repentance, and their 'resolution to take counteraction' sounds plausible," Jang said.

"But it is hard to clear the doubt that it can be just a brainstorm trick of Chongwadae (South Korean presidential palace) to tide over the present crisis. Because its attitude of repentance is too timid, when compared with the gravity of the crime committed."

North Korea has strongly protested the leaflet campaigns in recent days and vowed to cut off all inter-Korean communication lines in response.

It has also threatened to abolish an inter-Korean liaison office, scrap a military tension-reduction deal signed in 2018 and dismantle a now-shuttered industrial park in the North's border city of Kaesong.

Jang accused the South of making promises in words only, and mocked its efforts to legislate a ban on sending the leaflets.

"From now, time will be, indeed, regretful and painful for the south Korean authorities," he was quoted as saying by the North's KCNA.

The leaflets have been sent by North Korean defectors and conservative activists with messages sharply critical of the Pyongyang regime and its leader, said the Yonhap News Agency report.

The large balloons containing the leaflets also carry other items, such as USB memory sticks and $1 bills, to encourage North Koreans to pick them up.