Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

South Korea vows 'unbearable' retaliation against North Korea over its launch of trash balloons

South Korea says it’ll take strong retaliatory steps against North Korea over its launch of trash-carrying balloons across the border and other provocations

Hyung-Jin Kim
Sunday 02 June 2024 06:28 EDT
North Korea sends around 600 more trash balloons into South Korea

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

South Korea said Sunday it’ll soon take “unbearable” retaliatory steps against North Korea over its launch of trash-carrying balloons across the border and other provocations.

In the past week, North Korea floated hundreds of huge balloons to dump rubbish on South Korea, simulated nuclear strikes against its neighbor and allegedly jammed GPS navigation signals in the South in an escalation of animosities between the rivals.

South Korea’s national security director Chang Ho-jin said Sunday that top officials at an emergency meeting decided to take “unbearable” measures against North Korea in response to its recent series of provocative acts.

Chang called the North’s balloon campaign and its alleged GPS signal jamming “absurd, irrational acts of provocation that a normal country can’t imagine.” He accused North Korea of aiming to cause “public anxieties and chaos” in South Korea.

South Korean officials didn’t say what retaliatory steps they would take. But many observers say South Korea will likely resume front-line loudspeaker broadcasts into North Korea that include criticism of its abysmal human rights situation, world news and K-pop songs. North Korea is extremely sensitive to such broadcasts because most of its 26 million people have no official access to foreign TV and radio programs.

Earlier Sunday, South Korea’s military said that more than 700 balloons flown from North Korea were additionally discovered in various parts of South Korea. Tied to the balloons were cigarette butts, scraps of cloth, waste paper and vinyl, but no dangerous 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 trash and manure.

There have been no reports of major damage in South Korea.

North Korea said its balloon floating was in reaction to South Korean activists flying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets via their own balloons across the border. North Korea often responds with fury to balloons from South Korea. In 2020, North Korea exploded an empty, South Korean-built liaison office in the North in anger over the South Korean balloon activities.

Experts say North Korea’s balloon campaign, reportedly the first of its kind in seven years, is meant to stoke an internal divide in South Korea over its conservative government’s tough policy on the North. They say North Korea is also expected to further ramp up tensions ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November.

Since 2022, North Korea has sharply increased a pace of weapons tests to build a bigger nuclear arsenal. Last week, it fired a barrage of nuclear-capable weapons into the sea in a drill simulating a preemptive attack on South Korea.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in