North Korea launched about 310 balloons containing rubbish overnight toward South Korea, South Korean media reported.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the latest batch of balloons sent late Sunday contained waste paper and plastic, with no toxic materials detected so far. As of 8:30 a.m., no additional balloons had been detected in the air.
JCS spokesperson Col. Lee Sung-jun said many balloons did not reach South Korea due to winds blowing in an easterly direction, and about 50 balloons were detected over the border.
The North did not conduct any new launches early Monday, but the number of balloons dropped in the South is expected to rise as the military continues to receive reports of them, Lee told reporters at a regular briefing.
Sunday’s launch was the latest in a balloon-launching campaign launched by the North on May 28, which it called a “response to retaliate” against anti-Pyongyang leaflets distributed by activists in South Korea. It is estimated that the North has so far launched more than 1,600 balloons carrying debris.
South Korea broadcasts propaganda again
It also came hours after South Korea resumed propaganda broadcasts over loudspeakers in the border area, condemning the North’s attempts to cause public anxiety as “unacceptable” and vowing to take “appropriate measures.”
Lee said the military found no unusual North Korean military activity after the broadcasts, which lasted about two hours from 5 p.m. and were the first since they were halted under an inter-Korean declaration in 2018.
The JCS warned that whether the broadcasts would be conducted again would depend on the North’s actions. Lee said when asked why the military did not resume the broadcasts after the latest balloon launch.
“Considering the strategic and operational situation, (we) will conduct operations flexibly.”
Pyongyang has reacted angrily to these broadcasts in the past, firing artillery shells at the South in August 2015 over a loudspeaker propaganda campaign.
Late Sunday, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, warned that South Korea would face unspecified “new retaliatory measures” if it continued to send out anti-Pyongyang leaflets and broadcast loudspeakers across the border.
Asked about the statement, Lee said the North Korean military’s actions were being closely monitored and that the military would be able to fully respond to what Kim called “new countermeasures.” He said:
“Our military has the capabilities to respond to any North Korean provocation overwhelmingly.”
Confrontation has been going on for years
For years, North Korean defectors in the South and conservative activists sent balloon flyers to the North to encourage North Koreans to eventually rise up against the Pyongyang regime.
North Korea was distrustful of this propaganda campaign, fearing that the influx of outside information could pose a threat to its leader Kim Jong Un.
In 2014, the two Koreas exchanged machine gun fire across the border after North Korea apparently attempted to shoot down balloons carrying propaganda leaflets criticising North Korea.
