SEOUL: South Korea announced on Sunday (Jun 9) that it would resume its loudspeaker propaganda campaigns against North Korea, the president’s office said, after Pyongyang sent a fresh barrage of trash-filled balloons across the border.
“We will install loudspeakers against North Korea today and carry out the broadcast,” it said in a statement, adding that “the responsibility for the escalation of tension between the two Koreas will be entirely up to the North”.
North Korea has sent hundreds more trash-filled balloons across the border in a fresh blitz, Seoul’s military said on Sunday, as the tit-for-tat balloon barrages between the two neighbours accelerates.
Since the latest blitz began late on Saturday, Pyongyang has sent an estimated 330 balloons carrying bags of trash into the South, Seoul’s military said.
“So far, about 80 have fallen in our area and nothing is currently being identified in the air,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Sunday.
“Our analysis shows there were no substances that were harmful to safety,” it said, adding that the latest batch of balloons contained waste paper and plastic.
The Seoul city government, as well as officials in surrounding Gyeonggi province, sent out a text alert to residents on Saturday, warning about the balloons.
“North Korea is making another low-class provocation with trash balloons against our civilian areas,” wrote Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon in a Facebook post.
