Tag: balloons

It looks like Fighters For A Free North Korea will have to secretly as possible launch their propaganda balloons towards North Korea:

 The National Assembly passed Sunday a bill led by the ruling Democratic Party (DP) that would give police legal authority to block attempts to send anti-Pyongyang leaflets near border areas.

The amendment to the Act on the Performance of Duties by Police Officers allows police to intervene in the launch of leaflets near the inter-Korean border, aiming to prevent activities that could heighten tensions between the two Koreas.

The bill was passed at a plenary session, shortly after the main opposition People Power Party (PPP)’s filibuster ended through a vote 24 hours after it began. 

The DP has argued that the legislation is necessary to protect the safety of border residents and to help reduce military tensions, while the PPP opposed the bill, saying it infringes on freedom of expression.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like Fighters for a Free North Korea are going to have a hard time continuing their activities under the new Lee administration:

Lee also directed the government to curb propaganda leaflets sent northward by balloon by activist groups in South Korea. The North characterized the balloons as an act of war. The balloons that sometimes carry rice, small radios and other essentials to aid impoverished North Koreans hinder diplomatic relations between North and South and “threaten the daily lives and safety” of border-area residents, according to a presidential office statement June 14.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to see if the Lee administration tries to jail the leader of Fighters for a Free North Korea Park Sang-hak. During the Moon administration they arrested him Park multiple times in an effort to stop his group from sending balloons to North Korea.

The tit-for-tat between the ROK and North Korea continues:

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Sunday that South Korea will have to pay a “dear price” for sending propaganda leaflets across the border the previous day.

Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the central committee of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, said “various kinds of political agitation leaflets and dirty things” were dropped by the South near the border and further inland.

“We strongly denounce the shameful and dirty acts of the ROK scum who committed the provocation of scattering anti-DPRK political and conspiratorial agitation things once again in disregard of our repeated warnings,” she said in a statement carried by the North’s Korean Central News Agency, referring to South and North Korea by their formal names, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“There will be no house owner who hardly gets enraged at such dirty rubbish scattered in the clean yard, which even a mutt dislikes to touch,” she said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The locals are concerned that these balloon launches could lead to a North Korean provocation against them which is why there has been so much pushback:

A South Korean activist group called off its plan to launch balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets to the North across the heavily fortified frontier on Thursday after facing local opposition and police prevention due to potential security risks to residents.

Choi Sung-ryong, head of the Association of the Families of Those Abducted by North Korea, announced that the organization would cancel its decision to scatter propaganda leaflets in the North during a press conference held at the National Memorial for Abductees during the Korean War in the western border city of Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

The group had initially planned to float some 100,000 copies of the leaflet made of plastic — containing photos and descriptions of six abductee victims — attached to large balloons along with one-dollar bills on this day.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but the activists are now saying they are going to instead fly drones into North Korea instead which will actually be more provocative than the balloons.

It might be time for the ROK to start flying propaganda drones over Pyongyang again in response. This has clearly been something that got the Kim regime’s attention the last time they did it:

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the trash-loaded balloons were sent across the border between Saturday night and early Sunday and the fallen objects were household waste, such as paper and vinyl, and included no hazardous items.

The number of dropped items does not necessarily correspond to the number of balloons, as each balloon, which measures approximately 2 to 3 meters in diameter and 3 to 4 meters in length, usually contains several smaller bags.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The Korea Times has an article published that discusses what little options South Korea has to deter North Korea’s trash balloons:

Complicating matters for them is the apparent shift in North Korea’s intentions behind the balloon launches. Initially, Pyongyang claimed the balloons were in retaliation against anti-North Korean leaflets sent by South Korean civic groups, many of which consist of defectors from the North.

“The regime has continued the balloon campaign even after the leaflet launches stopped. This suggests that the balloons are now a tit-for-tat response to South Korea’s use of loudspeakers along the border,” Yang said.

In late July, South Korea resumed propaganda broadcasts across the border in response to the balloon launches. These broadcasts operate simultaneously from fixed loudspeakers in the border regions at full volume.

A military official said that the broadcasts are still operating from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. but declined to provide further details, citing operational secrecy.

“Instead of blasting the broadcasts day and night, our military should use the broadcasts more flexibly depending on the North’s behavior, such as switching them on only when it launches the balloons and turning them off when it remains silent for days,” Cho said.

Yang suggested that an ideal scenario would be for both Koreas to agree to a moratorium on psychological warfare, although this seems unlikely given their hawkish stances and the absence of a communication channel.

The professor also mentioned the possibility of international organizations such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) — where both South and North Korea are member states — mediating to ease tensions caused by the balloons.

He added, “Unless the government takes swift action, we are going to see thousands of more balloons since conditions are becoming more favorable for North Korea’s balloon launches, with winds blowing southward in the fall.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I don’t think North Korea has any intentions of stopping the trash balloons. It is a low cost gray area provocation for them that is providing them valuable military intelligence on where these balloons are landing while disrupting South Korean society. This disruption is putting pressure from the public on the Yoon administration to do something when there is really not much they can do.

The ROK military claims stern measures will be taken if North Korea’s trash balloons start causing fires:

South Korea’s military on Monday vowed to take “stern” military measures should North Korea “cross the line” with its ongoing trash balloon campaign or inflict serious damage to the South Korean people.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) made the remark in a statement in response to the North’s repeated launch of trash-carrying balloons across the border, including those attached with timer devices that could potentially cause fires.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it sounds like an empty threat to me. Really what is the ROK going to do in response, launch their own balloons that start fires in North Korea?