OAN Staff Abril Elfi
5:03 PM – Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Balloons full of trash from North Korea have landed in South Korea’s presidential office compound and a U.S. military base nearby, disrupting some operations.
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Since May, more than 3,000 North Korean balloons have landed in the southern region, according to South Korean officials.
Because it was unclear at the moment what the balloons might be carrying, authorities decided to not shoot down the balloons heading towards the presidential compound, in order to prevent any damage from happening. Ultimately, it was just more trash, continuing a North Korean trend of balloon launches in a point-for-point “trash war” with the South.
In response, the demilitarized zone (DMZ) has resumed broadcasting its programs and entertainment, including K-pop songs, over loudspeakers.
The balloons were filled with trash that was comprised of cigarette butts, abandoned batteries, manure, and more.
Following a public warning from South Korean authorities to beware of falling objects, as suspected North Korean trash balloons moved south toward the northern area of Gyeonggi province, the discovery was made at the presidential office on Wednesday.
“While monitoring trash balloons sent by North Korea in cooperation with the Joint Chiefs of Staff today, we identified trash that fell in the presidential office area in Yongsan,” the presidential security service said later in a statement. “No harmful or contaminating substances were found from an analysis by the response team.”
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) urged its citizens to not touch the balloons and to report any suspicious items found to authorities.
“North Korea’s actions clearly violate international law and seriously threaten the safety of our citizens,” JCS said in a statement after an earlier balloon incident. “All responsibility arising from the North Korean balloons lies entirely with North Korea, and we sternly warn North Korea to immediately stop its inhumane and low-level actions.”
Pyongyang claimed that it sent the balloons to the south in retaliation for a South Korean campaign to float balloons bearing “anti-Kim Jong Un propaganda” critical of North Korea in the opposite direction.
For an extended period, activists from South Korea had been allegedly sending balloons holding materials that criticize the North Korean dictator.
Additionally, USB sticks containing K-pop music and South Korean TV shows have been sent, despite the fact that these items are strictly forbidden in the closed off region.
Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister, claimed that dozens of balloons, “dirty leaflets,” and other materials sent from South Korea were found again in the north, specifically near the border.
She continued, noting that despite repeated North Korean warnings, South Korean activists were “not stopping this crude and dirty play.”
“It seems that the situation we cannot overlook is coming,” Kim Yo Jong said in a “stern warning” published by North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), adding there would be “a gruesome and dear price” to pay that could change the South’s “mode of counteraction” with the North.
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