SEOUL - South Korea's military sustained its propaganda broadcasts toward North Korea for a third consecutive day, responding to the North's continued launches of trash-carrying balloons across the border.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the broadcasts ran from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, employing loudspeakers directed at the North from near the heavily fortified western section of the border. This method was reinitiated on June 9, marking the first such action in six years, prompted by North Korea's repeated balloon campaigns since late May. The South's broadcasts resumed under a decision to suspend the 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction agreement, which had halted such activities.
The current escalation follows over 2,000 trash-carrying balloons sent by North Korea since May, including about 200 detected since last Thursday alone. These balloons have landed as far south as the northern area of Gyeonggi Province, which encircles Seoul. The South Korean military has warned of intensifying its broadcast efforts if North Korea continues its provocations.
North Korea has strongly reacted to both the loudspeaker broadcasts and the leaflet campaigns carried out by South Korean activists, viewing them as severe threats to its regime stability. After the initial broadcast in June, North Korea, through Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of leader Kim Jong-un, issued threats of dire consequences for South Korea if it allows its defectors to continue their critical leafletting towards the North.