North Korea resumes sending balloons filled with trash to the South – DW – 06/09/2024

North Korea has resumed sending balloons filled with trash and garbage across the border to the South, the South Korean military said on Saturday (06/09/2024), in an apparent response to defectors and activist groups sending anti-regime propaganda to the neighboring country.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) recommended that the civilian population not touch the objects and inform the nearest military or police authorities about their discovery, and warned of possible damage from the impact of the material of the balloons, which moved from north to south early this Sunday, according to information from the local Yonhap news agency.

Since May 28, Pyongyang has sent more than a thousand balloons filled with garbage across the inter-Korean border in what the regime considers a ‘tit for tat’ response to the South’s propaganda criticizing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un through similar means.

The South Korean government then warned of “intolerable” retaliatory measures, including the possible resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts in border areas, prompting Pyongyang to announce a temporary suspension of its balloon shipments.

However, North Korea threatened to send “a hundred times more toilet paper and garbage” in response to any new shipment of leaflets from the South.

This week, several groups of North Korean defectors sent dozens of balloons stuffed with anti-regime propaganda leaflets and USB flash drives containing cultural and political material from the South in response to the North’s actions, the most recent on Friday, which led to the resumption of sending North Korean dirt balloons.

Tensions have escalated on the inter-Korean border following these incidents earlier this month.

Sending balloons laden with debris led South Korea to suspend an inter-Korean military agreement adopted in 2018 primarily to ease tensions along the border – which the North had already unilaterally abandoned – and announce it would resume artillery drills in border areas. They halted crossings as part of reconciliation measures.

GS (EFE, AFP)