Provocation towards South Korea
North Korea sends garbage balloons again
02.06.2024, 08:26
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A few days ago, hundreds of balloons filled with rubbish landed in South Korea. The action was North Korea’s response to leaflets sent from South Korea to its neighbouring country. Now the North is repeating the provocation.
According to the South Korean military, North Korea has once again sent hundreds of balloons filled with garbage across the heavily fortified border into South Korea. Since Saturday evening, around 600 balloons have been discovered in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, containing cigarette butts, paper and plastic bags, among other things, the Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday, citing the General Staff in Seoul. The objects should not be touched as they could be potentially dangerous.
The military sent teams to recover the debris, it said. The balloons were not shot down because it could not be completely ruled out that they contained toxic chemicals. The South Korean presidential office wanted to discuss the provocations by the balloons on Sunday.
North Korea had already sent around 260 balloons last week, which may have contained excrement. On Friday, the South Korean Defense Ministry warned that it would take action if North Korea continued to carry out “irrational” provocations. It could consider resuming loudspeaker broadcasts at the border or sending leaflets with critical content, including calling for the overthrow of the leadership in Pyongyang.
Response to leaflets
Last Sunday, North Korea, which is ruled by Kim Jong Un’s authoritarian regime, threatened to send “piles of waste paper and dirt” across the border regions. South Korea will notice “how much effort it takes to clear everything away,” said the Vice Minister of Defense in a statement. The measures are a response to the sending of leaflets and garbage from South Korea.
Under the previous liberal South Korean government, a law came into force in 2021 banning the sending of leaflets and other objects along the military demarcation line between the two countries. The Constitutional Court lifted the ban last year, arguing that it disproportionately restricted freedom of expression.