GYEONGGI PROVINCE – North Korea has escalated its balloon campaign by sending approximately 240 balloons filled with trash toward South Korea, with around ten landing in the southern regions, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) reported today. This marks a continued use of such tactics amidst tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the launches occurred on Saturday, and by 10 a.m. today, no additional balloons were observed in midair. The majority of the balloons landed in the northern areas of Gyeonggi Province, which encircles Seoul, despite wind patterns that would typically carry them in northern and northeastern directions. The Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency has already received two reports concerning the fallen balloons, indicating local impacts of the North's actions.
The JCS clarified that the balloons primarily contained scraps of paper and plastic bottles, and importantly, they did not include any hazardous materials. This recent activity resumed North Korea's unique form of protest for the first time in over two weeks and represents the 11th such instance this year of using trash-filled balloons as a means of signaling discontent. Notably, some balloons previously landed within the compound of South Korea's presidential office in Seoul in July.
This balloon campaign is part of a broader exchange of propaganda efforts between the North and South, with over 3,600 such balloons launched by North Korea since May 28. This action is seen as a tit-for-tat response to anti-Pyongyang leaflets distributed by North Korean defectors in South Korea. In retaliation, the South Korean government has intensified its own propaganda broadcasts along the border, employing loudspeakers daily since mid-July.
The loudspeaker broadcasts and the leaflet campaigns have reportedly aggravated North Korea, which fears the potential destabilizing effect of external information on the Kim Jong-un regime.