Seoul - The South Korean government on Wednesday called on private groups to stop distributing anti-North Korean pamphlets over the border amid increased tension between the two Koreas.

According to a statement from South Korea's Unification Ministry, the government in Seoul will take measures to stop the organizations behind the pamphlet distribution.

Anti-Communist literature lifted across the border by helium-filled balloons has in the last weeks helped worsen tension, with the North holding Seoul responsible and threatening "serious" consequences.

The groups behind the pamphlets - including groups of North Korean refugees living in the South - have vowed to continue the action.

According to the group Fighters for a Free North Korea, more than 100,000 pamphlets so far have been brought over the border, some of which call for North Koreans to over the dictatorship in Pyongyang.

The authorities are to curb these activities "within the legal boundaries," a spokesman for the Unitification Ministry in Seoul said, without providing further details.

North Korean in the past weeks has threatened to close the border as of December 1. (dpa)