A balloon carrying garbage, presumably sent by North Korea, is seen floating on the Han River in Seoul on June 9, 2024, in this photo provided by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jun. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea has sent around 310 trash-carrying balloons across the border overnight, South Korea’s military said Monday, amid escalating tensions over the North’s repeated balloon campaign to which South Korea has responded with the resumption of loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts after six years.
The latest batch of waste-loaded balloons sent late Sunday contained scrap paper and plastic, with no toxic material detected so far, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). No additional balloons were detected floating in the air as of 8:30 a.m.
Sunday’s launch marked the latest in the North’s balloon campaign that started on May 28, which it described as a “tit-for-tat” response to anti-Pyongyang leafleting by activists in South Korea. The North is estimated to have launched more than 1,600 trash-carrying balloons so far.
It also came hours after South Korea resumed loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts in the border area after condemning the North’s attempts to cause public concern as “unacceptable” and vowed to take “corresponding measures.”
South Korea last conducted the anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts near the heavily fortified border in January 2016 in retaliation for North Korea’s fourth nuclear test.
Late Sunday, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned that South Korea will face unspecified “new counteraction” should it continue to send anti-Pyongyang leaflets and play loudspeaker broadcasts across the border.
For years, North Korean defectors in the South and conservative activists have sent leaflets to the North via balloons to help encourage North Koreans to eventually rise up against the Pyongyang regime.
North Korea has bristled at the propaganda campaign amid concern that an influx of outside information could pose a threat to its leader Kim Jong-un.
In 2014, the two Koreas exchanged machine-gun fire across the border after the North apparently tried to shoot down balloons carrying propaganda leaflets critical of North Korea.
(Yonhap)
