SEOUL – North Korea on July 21 floated balloons carrying trash towards South Korea, South Korea’s military said, declaring it would respond with “full-scale” loudspeaker broadcasts.
The South Korean military said the North’s actions raising tensions near the heavily armed border could have fatal consequences, adding that the North Korean regime would be solely responsible, reported Reuters.
“As we warned several times, the military will carry out loudspeaker broadcasts in full scale and on all fronts starting (from) 1pm (local time) today,” the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, calling the North’s launch of balloons vulgar and shameful.
The two Koreas have engaged in a tit-for-tat balloon campaign, with the North sending nearly 2,000 trash-filled balloons southwards since May, saying it is retaliation for propaganda balloons launched by South Korean activists.
“The North is launching another batch of rubbish-carrying balloons,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement on July 21, noting that they were flying towards the northern part of Gyeonggi.
“Please report them to the military or police and refrain from direct contact with the objects.”
The latest batch of balloons comes three days after Seoul announced it had resumed loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts directed at North Korea.
Seoul warned that it will broaden the scope of such broadcasts if the North persists in sending the trash-carrying balloons, describing them as “low-class actions” and noting that “all responsibility lies squarely with the North Korean military”.
“We can increase the number of broadcast speakers in the frontline areas if the North continues its provocations,” a military official told Yonhap news agency on July 20.
Blaring propaganda, world news and K-pop music, South Korea’s broadcasts are considered by military officials and activists as an effective form of psychological warfare.
The North’s balloons have disrupted more than 100 flights carrying 10,000 passengers, a South Korean lawmaker said earlier in July.
In response to the North’s actions, Seoul has fully suspended a tension-reducing military agreement and announced in June that it was resuming propaganda broadcasts along the border.
In addition to anti-Kim Jong Un leaflets sent from the South, isolated North Korea is extremely sensitive about its people gaining access to South Korean pop culture products, with a recent South Korean government report pointing to a 2022 case where a man was executed for possession of content from the South.
The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950 to 1953 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
The propaganda broadcasts – a tactic which dates back to the Korean War – infuriate Pyongyang, which previously threatened artillery strikes against Seoul’s loudspeaker units.
Prior to the latest propaganda broadcasts, Seoul recently resumed live-fire drills on border islands and near the demilitarised zone that divides the Korean peninsula. AFP, REUTERS
Source link : https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/north-korea-floats-trash-balloons-towards-south
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Publish date : 2024-07-20 21:43:00
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