It seems like a strange neighborhood dispute. But the background is serious. South and North Korea are fighting each other using unusual means. Concerns about an escalation in the region are growing again.
The propaganda battle on the border between North and South Korea threatens to escalate further. After South Korea began broadcasting news and music to the North over huge loudspeakers on Sunday, according to the military, the leadership there has now threatened similar measures against the South. The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong, spoke of a “prelude to a very dangerous situation” on Sunday evening, according to the state news agency KCNA. If South Korea continues to provoke by distributing leaflets and broadcasting messages over loudspeakers, the country will undoubtedly face countermeasures, said Kim.
North Korea sent garbage balloons to the South
The South Korean military leadership said there were already signs that North Korea was installing loudspeakers of its own. On Sunday, South Korea began broadcasting international news, information on democracy and capitalism, and popular K-pop to the isolated north. The broadcasts are said to be audible more than 20 kilometers into North Korea, although some experts doubt this. Before that, numerous balloons filled with garbage had flown from the north to the south. According to Kim, who is herself a high-ranking official of the ruling Workers’ Party, there were 1,400 balloons in the night from Saturday to Sunday alone.
North Korea began taking such measures in May. The balloons probably carried not only garbage but also manure across the demarcation line that has separated the North and South since the end of the Korean War more than 70 years ago. The regime in Pyongyang described the garbage shipments as retaliation for balloons that South Korean activists had sent to the North. Attached to them were leaflets criticizing ruler Kim, dollar bills and USB sticks with popular K-pop videos and TV films.
Loudspeaker broadcasts are one of the methods of psychological warfare. South Korea had suspended the measure, which it had already used in the past, when it signed an agreement with the North in 2018 to ease inter-Korean relations. But the pact has long since been effectively put on ice after North Korea pushed ahead with its missile program and declared its southern neighbor “enemy number one.” Because of the garbage balloons from the North, South Korea suspended the agreement completely just under a week ago and announced the resumption of all military activities along the demarcation line.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
