North Korea Reignites Garbage Balloon Drop Tactic on South Korean Presidential Compound
North Korea has reignited its Cold War-style psychological campaign by floating another garbage-filled balloon onto the presidential compound in Seoul, according to South Korean officials.
The incident on Thursday marks the second time in five months that Pyongyang has covered parts of South Korea in rubbish and comes after South Korea’s national security director Chang Ho-jin promised to take “unbearable” retaliatory steps to prevent it happening again.
South Korea’s presidential security service said the garbage that fell on the compound carried no dangerous items.
It was not immediately known whether President Yoon Suk Yeol was at the compound at the time of the balloon landing.
South Korea’s Dong-A Ilbo newspaper reported earlier that the latest balloons contained propaganda leaflets criticising President Yoon and his wife Kim Keon Hee along with garbage.
South Korea says hundreds of balloons carrying propaganda leaflets and trash have floated over the border from the north this year.
The newspapers said the leaflets were scattered in areas in Seoul’s Yongsan district, where Yoon’s presidential office is located, and noted that North Korea has recently started using GPS technology to drop balloons more accurately in intended locations.
The latest drop comes after North Korea floated about 900 balloons across the border within a week in May in which it also simulated nuclear strikes against South Korea and allegedly jammed GPS navigation signals in an escalation of animosities between the nations.
Those balloons contained cigarette butts, scraps of cloth, wastepaper and vinyl, but no dangerous substances.
In July, South Korea started boosting broadcasts of K-pop songs and propaganda messages across the two countries’ heavily armed border into North Korea in response to the balloon drops.
This year’s campaign is also not the first time North Korea has targeted its southern neighbour with balloons.
In 2016, balloons carrying rubbish, CDs and propaganda leaflets caused damage to cars and other property across South Korea. A year later, another balloon was located containing propaganda leaflets.
South Korea has refused to confirm whether it sent drones but warned North Korea would face the end of its regime if the safety of South Korean citizens were threatened.
North Korea accused South Korea of infiltrating drones to drop propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang three times earlier this month and threatened to respond with force if it happened again.
Experts have previously said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was expected to dial up tensions ahead of the US election on November 5 to try to help former president Donald Trump return to the White House and revive high-stakes diplomacy between them.
