North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un has dropped at least 260 white balloons filled with ‘filthy waste and trash’ onto South Korea in retaliation for leaflets scattered over North Korea amid an ongoing propaganda war between the two nations. The balloons appeared to have been carrying various items of rubbish, including plastic bottles, batteries, toilet paper, and what is believed to be manure, an official of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
Authorities have urged South Korean residents to stay indoors as a result after the balloons began to fall from the sky late on Tuesday. This comes just days after Kim Kang-il, a North Korean defence vice-minister, warned that the regime would retaliate in response to anti-North Korean leaflets flown across the border by South Korean activists. ‘Mounds of wastepaper and filth will soon be scattered over the border areas and the interior of the ROK and it will directly experience how much effort is required to remove them,’ Kang Il said in a statement to state media on Sunday.
Seoul’s JCS added that the North’s actions ‘clearly violate international laws and seriously threaten the safety of our people.’We sternly warn the North to immediately stop its inhumane and low-class actions’.
The South’s military said about 260 North Korean balloons were found dropped in various parts of the country as of Wednesday afternoon and were being recovered by military rapid response and explosive clearance teams. It advised civilians not to touch the objects flown from North Korea and to report to military or police after discovering them.
Photos released by the military showed trash scattered across highways and roads in different parts of the country. In the capital, Seoul, military officials found what appeared to be a timer that was likely designed to pop the bags of trash midair. In the central South Chungcheong province, two huge balloons carrying an un-popped plastic bag filled with dirt-like substances were seen at a road.
There were no immediate reports of damage caused by the balloons. Similar North Korean balloon activities damaged cars and other property in 2016.
In a statement issued over the weekend, North Korean Vice Defense Minister Kim Kang Il said the North was planning to scatter “mounds of wastepaper and filth” over border areas and other parts of South Korea, in what he described as “tit-for-tat” action against the leafletting by South Korean activists.
Local media reports said some balloons also carried toilet paper and suspected animal faeces into the South, according to Agence France-Presse.
Kim Jong Un’s comments about the satellite were from a speech at the North’s Academy of Defense Sciences, which he visited a day after a rocket carrying what would have been his country’s second military reconnaissance satellite exploded shortly after liftoff. North Korea’s aerospace technology administration said the explosion was possibly related to the reliability of a newly developed rocket engine that is fueled by petroleum and uses liquid oxygen as an oxidizer.
Animosities between the Koreas are at their worst level in years as the pace of both Kim’s weapons demonstrations and South Korea’s combined military exercises with the U.S. and Japan have intensified since 2022.
The failed satellite launch was a setback to Kim’s plan to launch three more military spy satellites in 2024 after North Korea’s first military reconnaissance satellite was placed in orbit last November. The November launch followed two failed attempts.
Monday’s launch drew criticism from South Korea, Japan and the United States, because the United Nations bans North Korea from conducting any such rocket launches, viewing them as covers for testing long-range missile technology.
North Korea has steadfastly maintained it has the right to launch satellites and test missiles in the face of what it perceives as U.S.-led military threats. Kim has described spy satellites as crucial for monitoring U.S. and South Korean military activities and enhancing the threat posed by his nuclear-capable missiles.
North Korea hasn’t commented on when it would be ready to attempt a satellite launch again, which some experts say could take months.
State media’s mention of a liquid oxygen-petroleum rocket engine suggests the North is trying to develop a more powerful space launch vehicle that could handle larger payloads, according to some South Korean experts.
Culled from CBS