North Korea floats more trash balloons towards South

SEOUL: North Korea has resumed floating balloons carrying trash towards South Korea, in apparent response to the South restarting loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts.

The two Koreas have engaged in a tit-for-tat balloon campaign, with the North sending nearly 2,000 trash-carrying 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 Sunday (Jul 21), noting 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 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 Saturday.

The North's balloons have disrupted more than 100 flights carrying 10,000 passengers, a South Korean lawmaker said earlier this month.

In response, 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 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 1950-53 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.