Kim Yo Jong had warned of a “confrontation crisis” if South Korea did not stop propaganda broadcasts.
North Korea has launched hundreds more garbage balloons toward South Korea after Kim Jong Un's influential sister warned Seoul to stop propaganda broadcasts across their tense border.
Pyongyang sent more than 300 debris-laden balloons across the inter-Korean border overnight, South Korea's military said Monday, after Kim Yo Jong earlier warned that the loudspeaker broadcasts risked sparking a “crisis.” of confrontation”.
“This is the prelude to a very dangerous situation,” Kim said in a statement carried by state media on Sunday.
The latest balloons carried only scraps of paper and plastic, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, unlike previous batches that carried unsanitary material such as manure, toilet paper and cigarette butts.
Military officials said they did not detect any balloons floating in the air at 8:30 am.
South Korea resumed loudspeaker broadcasts hours earlier in response to the North sending more than 1,000 garbage balloons in recent weeks.
In the past, broadcasts have included international news and K-pop, both of which are restricted by the Kim regime.
Seoul stopped broadcasting in 2018 during a period of inter-Korean rapprochement initiated by former President Moon Jae-in, predecessor of current conservative Yoon Seok-yeol.
Pyongyang has said it started the balloon campaign in retaliation for South Korean activists who sent anti-North Korean leaflets and USB drives filled with South Korean music and dramas across the border.
“Seoul does not want military tensions on the inter-Korean border, and Pyongyang does not want outside information that threatens the legitimacy of the Kim regime,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Women's University in Seoul.
“For both sides, 'raising tension to reduce tension' is a risky proposition. North Korea may have already miscalculated, as South Korea's democracy cannot simply disable NGO balloon launches as an autocracy would expect. “Pyongyang is used to employing asymmetric tactics to its advantage, but in today’s news space, it is overwhelmed by messages of freedom, economic success and K-pop.”
