This photo provided by Incheon Fire Headquarters shows balloons with trash presumably sent by North Korea, in Incheon, South Korea, Sunday, June 2, 2024. North Korea launched hundreds of more trash-carrying balloons toward the South after a similar campaign a few days ago, according to South Korea’s military, in what Pyongyang calls retaliation for activists flying anti-North Korean leaflets across the border.
| Photo Credit: AP

North Korea has sent around 600 more trash-filled balloons containing everything from cigarette butts to plastic across the border, Seoul’s military said Sunday, adding that security personnel were collecting them as they landed.

“North Korea has resumed launching waste balloons towards South Korea,” since around 8 p.m. (1100 GMT) June 1 evening, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

As of around 10 a.m. on June 2, “approximately 600 balloons have been identified, with about 20 to 50 balloons per hour moving through the air,” it added.

The balloons are landing in South Korea’s northern provinces, including the capital Seoul and the adjacent area of Gyeonggi, which collectively are home to nearly half of the South’s population.

North Korea began sending hundreds of balloons carrying bags of trash earlier this week, which Seoul has slammed as “low-class”, warning of strong countermeasures unless Pyongyang stops such “irrational” provocations.

Since the campaign started on May 28, some 900 balloons have been launched, the JCS said.

So far, they have been found to contain “waste such as cigarette butts, scrap paper, fabric pieces, and plastic,” it said, adding that “no hazardous substances have been found.”

“Our military is conducting surveillance and reconnaissance from the launch points of the balloons, tracking them through aerial reconnaissance, and collecting the fallen debris, prioritising public safety,” it said.

“We urge the public to avoid contact with the fallen waste balloons and report them to the nearest military unit or police station,” it added.

Balloon wars

The Seoul city government sent a text alert to residents on June 1, warning of an “unidentified object presumed to be North Korean propaganda leaflets”.

Pyongyang defended its release of the balloons earlier this week, saying the “sincere gifts” were retaliation for the balloons sent into North Korea with propaganda against leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea has long been infuriated by the balloons sent by South Korean activists, which carry anti-Pyongyang leaflets. Sometimes, they also include cash, rice or USB thumb drives with South Korean drama series.

In 2018, during a period of improved inter-Korean relations, the leaders of the two Koreas agreed to “completely cease all hostile acts against each other in every domain”, including the distribution of leaflets.

The South Korean parliament passed a law in 2020 criminalising the act of sending leaflets to the North, but the activists did not stop.

That same year, Pyongyang, blaming the anti-North leaflets, unilaterally cut off all official military and political communication links with the South and blew up an inter-Korean liaison office on its side of the border.

Last year, South Korea’s Constitutional Court struck down the 2020 law, calling it an undue limitation on free speech.

Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong — one of Pyongyang’s key spokespeople — mocked South Korea for complaining about the balloons this week, saying North Koreans were simply exercising their freedom of expression.

A TV screen shows a report of North Korea’s multiple rocket launchers during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea on May 31, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un supervised drills involving the firing of nuclear-capable multiple rocket launchers to show the country’s ability to carry out a preemptive attack on rival South Korea, state media reported May 31.

North Korea has simulated nuclear strikes on South Korea numerous times, but the latest drills came after animosities on the Korean Peninsula rose over North Korea’s recent failed spy satellite launch.

The North’s official KoreanCentral News Agency(KCNA) reported that the rocket firing drills were meant to demonstrate North Korea’s resolve not to hesitate in launching a preemptive strike on South Korea if threatened. It cited Mr. Kim as saying that the drills “will serve as an occasion in clearly showing what consequences our rivals will face if they provoke us.” Photos showed Mr. Kim watching from a distance as at least 18 projectiles were launched.

KCNA suggested the drills came as response to a South Korean aerial exercise performed hours before North Korea’s failed attempt to place its second spy satellite into orbit on Monday night.

The launch attempt drew strong condemnation from South Korea, the U.S. and others because the U.N. bans any satellite launches by North Korea, viewing them as covers for testing missile technologies. North Korea reacted angrily, arguing that it has the sovereign right to launch satellites.

Also this week, North Korea flew hundreds of huge balloons into South Korea carrying manure and other trash, and allegedly jammed GPS navigation signals in the South. There were no reports of any substantial damage.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry responded in a statement on May 31 that North Korea must stop “absurd, irrational provocations directed at us” or face unspecified “unbearable” consequences. Ministry spokesperson Kim Inae said separately that South Korea “strongly condemns” North Korea for threatening preemptive strikes against the South.

Observers speculate the South Korean retaliatory steps could include a resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts into North Korea that include criticism of its human rights situation, world news and K-pop songs. North Korea is extremely sensitive to such broadcasts because most of its 26 million people are not allowed access to foreign TV and radio programs.

The North Korean firing exercises appeared to be short-range ballistic missile test-launches that South Korea detected from North Korea’s capital region on May 30. Experts say North Korea’s large artillery rockets blur the boundary between artillery systems and short-range ballistic missiles because they can create their own thrust and are guided during delivery.

Since the start of 2022, North Korea has been engaged in a series of provocative weapons tests to increase its nuclear capabilities to cope with what it calls an intensifying U.S. military threat. Foreign experts say North Korea eventually aims to use its larger nuclear arsenal to wrest greater concessions from the U.S. when diplomacy resumes.