The South Korean military claimed that North Korea has resumed firing balloons toward its neighbor on Thursday, perhaps carrying trash, in yet another act of vengeance. It promised to respond to what it described as new cross-border South Korean civilian leafleting actions just a few days prior.
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Renewed Balloon Campaign in Korea
According to news agency AP, the balloons were floating north of Seoul on Thursday afternoon, around an hour’s drive from the border, according to a statement from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The people of South Korea were advised to notify the appropriate authorities immediately if they saw balloons on the ground. North Korea has been launching over 2,000 balloons laden with wastepaper, fabric scraps, cigarette butts, and dung toward South Korea since May. They claim this is in response to activists from that country using their balloons to carry political flyers back to the North. However, according to an AP report, no dangerous items were discovered.
South Korea Responds to Cross-Border Tensions
In retaliation, South Korea withdrew from a 2018 agreement to reduce tensions with North Korea, briefly resumed propaganda broadcasts, and conducted live-fire military drills at border areas.
After North Korea last launched garbage-carrying balloons into South Korea in late June, the Cold War-style campaigns between the two Koreas had come to an end.
The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced earlier this week that South Korean balloons had been discovered once more along the border and other locations in North Korea. Kim Yo Jong said in a statement on Tuesday that South Korean “scum” needed to be prepared to pay “a gruesome and dear price” in case further retaliation was taken. That led to worries that, instead of balloon launches, North Korea may stage actual provocations.
Historical Context of Balloon Propaganda
The military of South Korea announced on Wednesday that it is now more prepared to respond to any provocations from North Korea. It stated North Korea might open fire across the border at approaching South Korean balloons.
It was not immediately apparent if South Korean organizations had lately distributed flyers in North Korea. For many years, North Korean defector-led activist groups have been using US dollar banknotes in the North, along with USB drives stocked with K-pop music and South Korean dramas, to drop anti-North Korean leaflets from helium-filled balloons. Such actions are seen by North Korea as a severe security risk and a challenge to its policy of prohibiting foreign news for the majority of its 26 million citizens.
Potential for Escalation
In 2020, North Korea responded angrily to South Korean civilian leafleting activities by demolishing an unused liaison office that South Korea had erected on their soil.
South Korea fired back against North Korea-launched balloons that were approaching its territory in 2014, but no one was hurt. North Korea’s missile tests and the increase of U.S.-South Korean military games, which North Korea refers to as invasion rehearsals, have escalated tensions between the two Koreas in recent years.
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