Politics South Korea: North Korea sends garbage balloons across the border again

According to South Korea, North Korea has repeatedly sent several balloons with plastic bags presumably full of garbage across the heavily militarized border between the two countries. According to the official Yonhap news agency, the General Staff in the capital Seoul announced on Sunday that the balloons were heading towards the border province of Gyeonggi. The population was called upon not to touch the balloons and to report them to the police instead. Since the end of May, North Korea has already sent well over 1,000 balloons filled with waste products and in some cases liquid manure to South Korea.

It was only on Thursday that the South Korean government once again resorted to psychological warfare and began broadcasting propaganda to the isolated neighboring country via loudspeaker systems on the border. The North Korean leadership views such actions as a serious provocation.

In view of the growing tensions on the Korean peninsula, South Korea's government recently decided to suspend a 2018 military agreement with North Korea on confidence-building measures on the border. Among other things, this paved the way for the resumption of military exercises near the military demarcation line.

After a temporary phase of de-escalation, the conflict on the Korean peninsula has recently become much more explosive again. North Korea has been increasingly testing nuclear-capable missiles and other weapons since the beginning of 2022. Meanwhile, South Korea and the USA have expanded their military cooperation.

SDA