A South Korean man has received a suspended 10-month prison term for retweeting North Korean propaganda posts.

The Suwon District Court cited the National Security Law in its ruling Wednesday against Park Jeong-geun. The law prohibits praising and glorifying North Korea. Park could have received seven years in prison.

South Korea will hold a military drill this week on a border island shelled by North Korea in 2010, marking the second anniversary of an attack that triggered fears of a full-scale conflict.

Friday's drill will feature field and simulated exercises by marines stationed on Yeonpyeong island as well as other naval forces, a Marine Corps spokesman told Agence France Presse.

North Korea tried to export ballistic missile parts to Syria in May in violation of U.N. sanctions, Japanese media said Wednesday, citing diplomats who have seen a classified U.N. report.

South Korean authorities inspected North Korean cargo bound for Syria and confiscated hundreds of cylinders that could be used to build the weapons, the Asahi Shimbun said.

Several dozen South Korean activists launched balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets, condoms and sanitary pads across the border with North Korea on Thursday.

The launch went ahead despite a recent threat from Pyongyang of military strikes against similar propaganda exercises by North Korean defectors.

Japan is planning to develop an unmanned drone that could help detect a North Korean nuclear missile attack and to counter China's military buildup, a report said Sunday.

The defence ministry has demanded 3 billion yen ($372 million) over the next four years to develop the aircraft, which would come into operation in 2020, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported without citing sources.

South Korean activists floated anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border with North Korea on Monday, a week after the North threatened military action over a similar propaganda exercise.

Around a dozen activists released seven balloons carrying 50,000 leaflets from a park in the border town of Paju, north of Seoul, amid heavy security involving some 100 police officers.

South Korea plans to make its third attempt to join the exclusive club of countries capable of placing a satellite in space on Friday with a rocket launch from the Naro Space Center on the south coast.

Science Minister Lee Ju-Ho told reporters Monday that the Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV-I) would blast off as scheduled, barring any last-minute hitches or problems with weather conditions.

North Korea Saturday condemned a recent visit by the South's President Lee Myung-Bak to an island close to their disputed border and reiterated that it only recognises a demarcation line drawn by Pyongyang.

A National Defence Commission spokesman said Lee's trip Thursday to Yeonpyeong island, shelled by the North in 2010, intended to raise tensions and rally support for the conservative ruling party ahead of December elections.

The North Korean army threatened Friday to carry out a "merciless military strike" against South Korea next week, in a serious escalation of cross-border tensions.

The Korean People's Army (KPA) vowed to initiate the strike if a group of North Korean defectors now living in the South went ahead with plans to scatter propaganda leaflets next Monday from balloons floated over the border.

A South Korean army division faces embarrassing questions after a North Korean soldier traveled unchecked across one of the world's most fortified borders and knocked on a guard post asking for asylum.

The 22nd division based in the northeastern county of Goseong has been placed under disciplinary inspection over the incident on the night of October 2, a Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) official told journalists on Wednesday.