Photo by Handout / South Korean Defense Ministry / AFP
SEOUL, South Korea — In the latest development of a growing propaganda war, North Korea launched hundreds of balloons filled with trash into South Korea, Seoul’s military reported on Tuesday. This act follows a series of similar provocations that have heightened tensions between the two nations.
According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, approximately 350 balloons were launched by Pyongyang on Monday evening. Around 100 of these balloons landed in South Korea, primarily in northern Gyeonggi province and the capital, Seoul. The attached bags contained “mostly paper waste,” and authorities confirmed they posed no safety risk to the public.
“The South Korean military is ready to carry out its psychological warfare immediately,” the JCS stated, emphasizing that their response would be contingent on North Korea’s future actions.
In a speech marking the anniversary of the Korean War’s start, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol condemned North Korea’s balloon offensive as a “despicable and irrational provocation.” He also criticized a recent agreement between Pyongyang and Moscow, signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to North Korea, as a “blatant violation of UN Security Council resolutions.”
“Our military will maintain a steadfast readiness to ensure that North Korea does not dare to challenge South Korea under any circumstances and will respond overwhelmingly and decisively to any provocations from the North,” Yoon asserted.
North Korea has already sent over a thousand trash-filled balloons to the South, claiming it is a retaliatory measure against South Korean activists who have been sending anti-regime propaganda balloons into the North.
In response to these actions, Seoul has fully suspended a military agreement aimed at reducing tensions and has resumed some propaganda broadcasts via loudspeakers along the border.
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a key government spokeswoman, warned earlier this month that continued leaflet drops and loudspeaker broadcasts from the South would lead to further North Korean counteractions.
Experts warn that border tensions could quickly escalate. “Since the South has met the first condition — which is the leaflet scattering — if the government were to resume loudspeakers, we would likely see the ‘new counteraction’ that was mentioned,” said Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha Womans University.