South Korea said on Sunday it will soon take “excruciating” retaliatory measures against North Korea for its own launch of balloons that transport the garbage across the border and other provocations.
Last week, North Korea floated hundreds of huge balloons to dump garbage on South Korea, simulated nuclear attacks on its neighbor and allegedly blocked GPS navigation signals in the South in escalating animosity between the rivals
South Korea's national security chief Chang Ho-jin said Sunday that senior officials at an emergency meeting decided to take “excruciating” measures against North Korea in response to its recent series of provocative acts .
Chang called the North's balloon campaign and its alleged jamming of the GPS signal “absurd and irrational acts of provocation that a normal country cannot imagine.” He accused North Korea of trying to cause “public anxieties and chaos” in South Korea.
South Korean officials did not say what retaliatory measures they would take. But many observers say South Korea is likely to resume broadcasts from front-line speakers in North Korea that include criticism of its abysmal human rights record, world news and K-pop songs. North Korea is extremely sensitive to such broadcasts because most of its 26 million people do not have official access to foreign television and radio programs.
Incheon Fire Department Headquarters, via AP
Early Sunday, South Korea's military said more than 700 balloons flown from North Korea were also discovered in various parts of South Korea. Tied to the balloons were cigarette butts, scraps of clothing, waste paper and vinyl, but no hazardous substances, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
It was North Korea's second balloon activity in less than a week. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, South Korean officials said they had found about 260 North Korean balloons carrying garbage and manure.
There have been no reports of major damage in South Korea.
North Korea said its balloon float was a reaction to South Korean activists flying propaganda leaflets against Pyongyang in their own balloons across the border. North Korea often responds with fury to South Korean balloons. In 2020, North Korea blew up an empty liaison office built by South Korea in the North angered by South Korean balloon activities.
Experts say North Korea's balloon campaign, said to be the first of its kind in seven years, is aimed at stoking an internal divide in South Korea over its conservative government's hardline policy in the North. They say North Korea is also expected to raise tensions further ahead of the US presidential election in November.
Since 2022, North Korea has greatly increased the pace of weapons testing to build a larger nuclear arsenal. Last week, it fired a barrage of nuclear weapons into the sea in a drill simulating a pre-emptive strike on South Korea.
