The ROK military claims stern measures will be taken if North Korea’s trash balloons start causing fires:
South Korea’s military on Monday vowed to take “stern” military measures should North Korea “cross the line” with its ongoing trash balloon campaign or inflict serious damage to the South Korean people.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) made the remark in a statement in response to the North’s repeated launch of trash-carrying balloons across the border, including those attached with timer devices that could potentially cause fires.
You can read more at the link, but it sounds like an empty threat to me. Really what is the ROK going to do in response, launch their own balloons that start fires in North Korea?
ROK authorities need to put this guy away for a very long time to deter anyone else from leaking information like this. Hopefully none of these ROK agents were killed due to these leak:
The defense ministry’s prosecutors’ office on Tuesday indicted a military intelligence official for allegedly leaking information of South Korean espionage agents operating overseas.
The official at the Korea Defense Intelligence Command, whose identity is withheld, was arrested earlier this month on allegations of handing over personal information of “black agents” to a Chinese national of Korean descent, who is possibly an informant for North Korea’s intelligence agency.
The defense ministry said the prosecutors indicted the official on charges of aiding the enemy, bribery and violating the Military Secrets Protection Act, believing that the individual leaked confidential information in exchange for financial gains.
President Yoon’s comments are definitely not going to go over well with the Kim regime:
President Yoon Suk Yeol unveiled a vision for unification with North Korea on Thursday, pledging to expand outside information in the reclusive nation and proposing an official dialogue channel that can “take up any issue.”
Yoon made the remark in an address marking Liberation Day, which celebrates the 1945 end of Japan’s colonial rule, saying, “Complete liberation remains an unfinished task” as the Korean Peninsula still remains divided.
“The freedom we enjoy must be extended to the frozen kingdom of the North, where people are deprived of freedom and suffer from poverty and starvation,” Yoon said. “Only when a unified free and democratic nation rightfully owned by the people is established across the entire Korean Peninsula will we finally have complete liberation.”
Yoon laid out three key tasks for unification: defending freedom in South Korea from fake news and other destabilizing elements, bringing about changes in North Korea through human rights improvements and outside information, and strengthening cooperation with the international community.
You can read more at the link, but the statement about bringing in outside information into North Korea likely means the propaganda balloon launches will continue. The fact that North Korea gets so angered by the balloon launches demonstrates that they must be having an effect.
North Korea has enough money to build nuclear weapons, ICBMs, and a space program; I am sure they can find funding if they wanted to provide aid to these flood victims. Additionally if the ROK did provide aid how could they monitor it is actually going to the flood victims and not the military?:
South Korea on Thursday proposed providing humanitarian aid to North Korea over damage from the recent downpours in its northern border areas along the Amnok River, as the North is believed to have sustained huge casualties.
The unification ministry said it is willing to urgently support the North Korean flood victims with the necessary supplies from a humanitarian and fraternal perspective through the Korean Red Cross.
“We are ready to discuss the items, scale and method of support with the North Korean counterpart. We expect North Korea’s swift response,” said Park Jong-sul, secretary general of the Korean Red Cross, expressing his “deep sympathy” for the victims.
Incheon International Airport has always been a major vulnerability for South Korea and here is another example of that:
North Korea’s recent campaign of launching trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea has disrupted operations of Incheon International Airport, the South’s main gateway, on 12 occasions, a lawmaker said Tuesday, citing government data.
According to data from the Seoul Regional Aviation Administration submitted to Rep. Yang Bu-nam of the main opposition Democratic Party, runways at the airport have been shut down for a total of 265 minutes across 12 occasions due to the balloons sent from North Korea.
The first disruption incident occurred from 10:48 p.m. to 11:42 p.m. on June 1, four days after North Korea first began launching the balloons. The most severe disruption occurred on June 26, when runways were shut down on eight occasions, resulting in 166 minutes of halted takeoffs and landings.
The tit-for-tat balloon antics between North and South continue:
A trash-carrying balloon sent by North Korea landed on the presidential office compound Wednesday, the Presidential Security Service (PSS) said.
The PSS said it discovered fallen trash on the grounds of the presidential compound while monitoring the latest batch of balloons flown by the North earlier in the day.
North Korea has sent thousands of trash-filled balloons toward South Korea since May in protest of anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets sent by activists in South Korea across the border.
This tit-for-tat is better than the two Koreas shooting at each other:
South Korea’s military blared K-pop songs and news through its loudspeakers across the border with North Korea on Sunday as it stepped up its psychological campaign in response to North Korea’s repeated launches of trash balloons.
The move came five days after Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned of “gruesome and dear” consequences over continued leaflet campaigns seen by North Korea as psychological warfare.
North Korea has sent more than 2,000 trash-filled balloons into the South over nine occasions in a tit-for-tat retaliation for anti-Pyongyang leaflets that North Korean defectors in South Korea send to North Korea using balloons.
“As we have warned numerous times, we will conduct loudspeaker broadcasts in full-scale at all fronts starting from 1 p.m.,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a notice to reporters.
The propaganda broadcasts typically comprise news, a message urging North Korean soldiers near the border to escape to South Korea as well as K-pop songs, including global K-pop sensation BTS’ megahit singles “Dynamite” and “Butter.”
Here is the Korean left’s latest attempt to silence the activists that fly anti-regime balloons into North Korea:
Materials believed to be anti-Pyongyang leaflets from South Korea are set on fire after being discovered in North Korea, in this photo released by the North’s Korean Central News Agency on July 14, 2024.
The unification ministry on Wednesday struck a cautious note about opposition lawmakers’ legislative attempt to ban Seoul activists’ sending of anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border, citing the right of freedom of expression.
In September, the Constitutional Court ruled that a clause banning leaflet launches in the law on the development of inter-Korean relations is unconstitutional, saying it excessively restricts the right to freedom of expression.
The decision paved the way for North Korean defectors and activists to resume their leaflet campaigns toward North Korea. In retaliation, the North has sent more than 2,000 trash-filled balloons into the South since late May.
Several lawmakers from the main opposition Democratic Party have proposed revisions to the law to restrict such leaflet launches while taking into account the intent of the court’s ruling.
“When it comes to a revision to the law, there is a need for a cautious approach, given that the court’s ruling underscores freedom of expression as a constitutional value that is the basis of democracy,” the ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs said in a report to the National Assembly.
This should give everyone further indications on how healthy the people in North Korea are:
Parasites have been detected in some of the trash-filled balloons sent by North Korea to South Korea, but no harmful substances were found, Seoul’s unification ministry said Monday.
In recent weeks, North Korea has sent more than 1,000 trash-carrying balloons toward the South on multiple occasions in retaliation for South Korean activists’ leaflet campaigns condemning the North Korean regime.
“Numerous parasites, such as roundworms, whipworms and threadworms, were found in the soil contained in the trash,” the ministry said in a press release, adding that the parasites are believed to originate from human excrement.
The findings are based on an examination of 70 balloons.
I just don’t see restarting propaganda broadcasts as something that will stop these trash attacks. These attack are low cost, effective, and have little risk of escalation for the North Korean regime:
The South Korean government decided, Sunday, to resume loudspeaker broadcasts along the inter-Korean border in response to North Korea’s recent launches of trash-carrying balloons.
Hours after the decision, the military announced that it had aired messages — presumably critical of the North Korean regime — across the border. However, it declined to provide details on the psychological warfare broadcasts, such as their timing, location and delivery methods.