North Korean propaganda leaflets apparently scattered in balloons were found on the streets of the South Korean capital Seoul on Thursday, including some containing personal attacks on the country’s president and first lady, Korean media reported.
The leaflets attacking South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and First Lady Kim Keon Hee, found in the capital, appear to be the first time the North Korean government has directly sent anti-South Korean propaganda materials across the border.
They contained graphic messages blaming Yoon’s government for failures that cause his people to live in despair and describing the first couple as immoral and mentally unstable.
Prior to that, Yonhap News Agency reported that the DPRK had sent about 20 balloons with debris to South Korea.
28th balloon launch since May
According to the agency, this launch of balloons with rubbish by the DPRK was the 28th since May this year. No hazardous substances were found in the bags attached to the balloons. Their contents consisted of household rubbish, including plastic and waste paper.
Things escalated in October when the DPRK claimed that South Korean drones had intruded into the country’s airspace several times to distribute leaflets. On October 19, North Korean authorities reported the discovery of drone debris near Pyongyang. The DPRK called the occurrence “a serious crime that violates our sovereignty and a clear target for exercising our right to self-defence.” The country also said it will immediately retaliate without warning if South Korean drones are detected again.
South Korea’s Chiefs of Staff Committee denied the military’s involvement in the incident, which was later confirmed by the country’s Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun. However, Kim Yo Jong, deputy division head of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un’s sister, stated that “provocative acts of sovereignty violation were directly committed by the military departments of the Republic of Korea or with their active support and connivance.”
