North Korea has called on South Korea to halt its broadcasts on unification, saying they are insulting and provocative.

North Korea's government-run news agency KCNA, in an article Friday, denounced the South's Unification Ministry for launching broadcasts, which it said were meant to tarnish the communist country. The article quoted the North Korean committee which handles inter-Korean affairs as calling the move a grave provocation.

South Korea's Unification Ministry, which is in charge of relations with North Korea, recently launched weekly television broadcasts and daily online radio broadcasts to try to raise public awareness on potential unification with North Korea.

Pyongyang has earlier issued a series of military threats against South Korea for launching propaganda leaflets that it claims are aimed at toppling the communist regime. North Korean defectors and South Korean activists have been sending the leaflets over the border by balloon.

Relations between the two Koreas have deteriorated since President Lee Myung-bak took over in 2008 and demanded evidence of progress on North Korea's nuclear disarmament in exchange for aid.