North Korea begins new provocations: launching garbage balloons

Last night, North Korea resumed sending hot air balloons to South Korean territory, in response to Seoul’s decision to activate loudspeakers to broadcast anti-Pyongyang propaganda along the border between the two countries. This was announced by the Joint General Staff of the South Korean Armed Forces, according to which the balloons carry paper and garbage, like those already sent by North Korea over the past two weeks. The Seoul city government issued a new public safety alert last night, in anticipation of some balloons arriving in the South Korean capital area. Since May 28, North Korea has sent at least four different waves of balloons loaded with waste paper and garbage of various kinds into South Korea, as a sign of retaliation for cross-border propaganda activities by South Korean pro-democracy activists using the same means.

Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and director of the Agitation and Propaganda Department of the North Korean Workers’ Party, warned that South Korea will face “new countermeasures” in response to the cross-border propaganda measures taken. between the two countries, culminating over the weekend with Seoul’s decision to activate loudspeakers along the border between the two countries, broadcasting pop music and loud voice messages into North Korean territory. “If South Korea simultaneously carries out provocative activities of distributing leaflets and broadcasting over loudspeakers, it will undoubtedly see new countermeasures from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Kim said, referring to North Korea by its official name.

The North Korean leader’s sister also indicated that over the past two weeks, Pyongyang sent approximately 7.5 tons of waste to South Korean territory using 1,400 hot air balloons. “This is just nonsense that does not contain any political propaganda, unlike the anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent by North Korean defectors in the South,” Kim explained. Finally, he said that Pyongyang had decided to stop sending balloons filled with waste, but “the situation has changed” now that Seoul has learned of the resumption of sending propaganda materials and messages.