SEOUL: Soul military on Thursday accused North Korea of launching more balloons believed to be carrying trash toward the South.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North was “launching trash balloons aimed at the South once again,” adding they were floating currently across the border. The citizens are advised to be cautious of falling debris and report it to the nearest military unit or police station.
Seoul authorities have also issued an alert to residents saying a suspected balloon from North Korea has entered the airspace of Northern Gyeonggi province. This is the eighth round of trash balloons launched by Pyongyang since late May.
North has already sent more than a thousand of the balloons towards the south, terming it retaliation for anti-regime propaganda northwards by the activists south of the border.
Seoul in response to the trash balloons has completely suspended a tension-reducing military agreement and restarted some propaganda broadcasts from loudspeakers along the border. It has also conducted live-fire drills in some border areas.
The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week said that more “dirty leaflets” from South Korean “scum” had been found in the territory of North along the border, warning they would pay a very high price for such actions.
The United Nations Command stated on May 30 via Facebook that sending a large number of balloons carrying waste that could harm citizens constitutes a violation of the armistice agreement.
An official investigation into the matter is underway. The defence ministers of South Korea and the United States reaffirmed at the 21st Asia Security Summit (Shangri-La Dialogue) in Singapore on June 2 that North Korea’s release of trash balloons breaches the armistice agreement.
The leaflets sent by North Korean human rights organizations contain daily necessities, medicines, US dollars, and other goods genuinely helpful to the North Korean people, making North Korea’s response even more irrational.
Kim Jong-un perceives these efforts to introduce information into North Korea as a serious threat to his regime. These efforts align with the UN COI’s recommendations, which highlight the international community’s mandate to provide information to the North Korean people.
Many experts believe that external information is being introduced through various channels in North Korea, sparking interest in South Korean culture. This trend likely explains why the North Korean regime views the leaflets as a threat.
