North Korea has announced that it will halt the release of balloons filled with trash across the border, deeming it a successful response to South Korea’s leaflet dispersal. According to North Korea’s news agency KCNA, the country has made the South Korean side fully aware of the challenges and difficulties of collecting scattered papers. They have pledged to halt the operation after releasing thousands of devices carrying 15 tons of waste paper.
Furthermore, North Korea has warned that if South Korea persists in spreading leaflets, they will retaliate by releasing 100 times more waste paper and waste than the amount and frequency of leaflets detected, calling it a pure response measure. This comes after activists in South Korea have repeatedly sent balloons containing leaflets, sometimes cash, rice, or USB drives containing dramas over the border into North Korea.
These trash balloons have landed in various locations in South Korea, including the capital Seoul and neighboring Gyeonggi province, where a significant portion of the population resides. The latest batch included about 600 balloons carrying bags filled with trash like cigarette butts, shredded paper, fabric pieces, and plastic bags. South Korean soldiers and police officers have been deployed to collect them.
In response to North Korea’s actions, South Korea’s National Security Council convened to discuss potential responses, including the resumption of propaganda loudspeaker operations along the border. However, experts have warned that such actions could escalate tensions and lead to armed conflict along the border and western waters of the peninsula.
While inter-Korean relations improved in 2018, with a commitment to end all hostile acts including leaflet spreading tensions have resurfaced in recent years. The South Korean National Assembly passed a law last year criminalizing the act of dropping leaflets into North Korea; however this did not deter activists. Kim Yo-jong , Kim Jong-un’s sister defended North Korea’s actions describing them as an expression of freedom of speech
