South Korea vowed on Sunday to take “intolerable” steps against North Korea after the country sent more balloons filled with waste across the border this weekend.
North Korea launched hundreds more balloons containing “filth” on Saturday at several South Korean provinces, including parts of Seoul. An estimated 700 balloons were believed to be part of the latest fleetdays after the North sent a first batch of about 260 balloons last Tuesday.
The garbage balloons contained cigarette butts, waste paper, vinyl and plastic bags, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Saturday, citing Seoul’s military. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the balloons did not contain any hazardous substances, although residents were told not to touch them and to report them to the military or police.
South Korea’s national security director Chang Ho-jin said on Sunday that the country’s top officials agreed to take “intolerable” measures in response to North Korea, calling their actions and alleged blocking of GPS signals “absurd, irrational acts of provocation”. reported the Associated Press.
Pyongyang said the balloons were in response to a campaign organized by South Korean activists and North Korean defectors who launched balloons carrying anti-North Korean leaflets and other items, the AP reported.
South Korean officials did not elaborate on what type of retaliatory measures they expect to take, although observers told the AP the country could resume frontline loudspeaker broadcasts to North Korea criticizing its human rights record, world news and K-pop songs. , the newswire added.
The loudspeaker explosions stopped in 2018 after a rare meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Reuters reported this.
Last week, the South Korean military said it did not plan to shoot down incoming balloons to avoid escalating already simmering tensions near the border.
“(We) decided it was best to drop the balloons and retrieve them safely,” the South Korean spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the AP last week.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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