SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea continued to broadcast anti-North Korean propaganda through loudspeakers in the border area Sunday in retaliation for more than 1,000 balloons filled with garbage and manure sent by the North in recent weeks.
Hours later, the younger brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned that the South was creating “a prelude to a very dangerous situation.” He said South Korea would witness an unspecified “new response” from the North if it continued broadcasting and failed to prevent civilian activists from flying anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border.
“I sternly warn Seoul to immediately stop its dangerous activities that will further provoke a confrontation crisis,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement published by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency.
The continued propaganda broadcasts could prompt retaliatory military measures as tensions between the rivals rise as negotiations over the North’s nuclear ambitions remain deadlocked.
South Korea’s military also said it detected North Korea launching what appeared to be more balloons carrying debris Sunday night. The military did not immediately confirm that any had landed in the south.
Lee Sung Joon, a spokesman for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Kim’s comments indicated heightened verbal threats from North Korea, but he did not provide a specific assessment of what actions North Korea might take. Lee said the South is conducting broadcasts at sites where soldiers have adequate protection and are equipped quickly in the event of an attack.
“(We) don’t think they can provoke easily,” Lee said during Monday’s briefing.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff did not specify where the broadcast border occurred Sunday afternoon or what was played. Anti-Pyongyang broadcasts, K-pop songs and international news were broadcast in the past.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the additional broadcasts “depend on North Korea’s behavior,” and the broadcasts were suspended as of Monday morning.
The South removed loudspeakers from the border area in 2018, during a period of engagement with the North under Seoul’s previous liberal government.
North Korea said the balloon campaign was launched after South Korean activists sent balloons filled with anti-North Korean leaflets, as well as USB sticks filled with popular South Korean songs and dramas. Pyongyang is highly sensitive to the material and fears it could harm front-line troops and civilians and ultimately undermine the power of leader Kim Jong Un, analysts said.
In 2015, when South Korea resumed loudspeaker broadcasts for the first time in 11 years, North Korea fired artillery across the border, prompting South Korea to return fire, according to South Korean officials. There were no casualties.
Last week, as tensions rose over the debris-carrying balloons, South Korea also suspended a 2018 agreement to reduce hostilities along the border, allowing it to resume its propaganda campaign and possibly begin live military exercises in the border area.
South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik in a meeting with top military commanders called for full preparation for the possibility of North Korea responding to the speaker’s broadcast with direct military action, the ministry said in a statement.
North Korea continued to fly hundreds of balloons into South Korea over the weekend, its third such campaign since late May.
The South’s military said the balloon that landed threw up trash, including plastic and paper waste, but no hazardous materials were found.
In the statement, Kim Yo Jong claimed the North used about 1,400 balloons to drop 7.5 tons of garbage from Saturday night to Sunday morning. They also complained that anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets sent by South Korean activists have been found in the border area in recent times.
He said the North had originally planned to stop launching balloons on Sunday, but decided to send more as the South resumed loudspeaker broadcasts.
The South’s military, which has mobilized rapid chemical response and explosive clearance units to retrieve North Korean balloons and materials, warned the public to be aware of falling objects and not to touch balloons found on the ground but to report them to police or military authorities.
In two previous rounds of balloon activity in North Korea, South Korean authorities found approximately 1,000 balloons tied to vinyl bags containing manure, cigarette butts, scraps of cloth, waste batteries and waste paper. Some of them appeared and were scattered in the streets, residential areas and schools. No hazardous materials were found and no major damage was reported.
A South Korean civic group led by North Korean defector Park Sang-hak said it released 10 balloons on Thursday carrying 200,000 anti-North Korea leaflets, USB sticks with K-pop and K-drama songs, and $1 bills. South Korean media reported another group of activists also flew balloons with 200,000 propaganda leaflets into North Korea on Friday.
Kim Jong Un in recent years has conducted an intensive campaign to eliminate the influence of South Korean culture and language. In January, Kim declared the North would abandon its long-held goal of peaceful unification with the South and rewrite the constitution to cement the South as a permanent enemy. Experts say Kim’s efforts to strengthen the North’s separate identity may be aimed at strengthening the Kim family’s dynastic rule.
