North Korea has been told it has to stop sending trash balloons over the border into South Korea, or they’ll ‘pay a fatal price’.
The two countries are in a battle of trash and loud speakers as a new wave of trash-filled balloons have made their way across the border.
Seoul then blared propaganda broadcasts on a loudspeaker over to North Korea for the fourth day in a row in retaliation to the trash balloons turning up.
People living in the Gyeonggi province were told to watch out for objects falling from the sky and warned not to touch the debris.
READ NEXT: Inside the small village meters from North Korea living beside 800 soldiers and a strict curfew
South Korea has had enough, and said today it would respond with ‘full-scale’ broadcasts, telling North Korea the trash balloons are raising tensions – and it could become fatal.
Joint Chiefs of Staff said they were ‘vulgar’ and ‘shameful’.
They added: “As we warned several times, the military will carry out loudspeaker broadcasts in full scale and on all fronts starting 1pm today.”
The tension has been rising since 2018, when the two countries suspended a deal to stop using the tactics.
More than 2,000 trash balloons from North Korea have arrived in the south over the past few months. They carry cigarette butts, waste paper, scraps of cloth, manure and batteries.
They have even caused flight disruptions and diversions, with Seoul’s Incheon International Airport having to briefly shutdown when balloons arrived on the tarmac.
Things have escalated this week, when North Korea launched trash balloons on Thursday, prompting the South to send broadcasts over the border on Friday, Saturday and Sunday between 6am and 10pm. Then another set were launched on Sunday.
“The North Korean military’s tension-escalating acts in frontline areas may lead it to pay a fatal price and we sternly warn that all responsibility for this situation lies with the North Korean regime,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
READ NEXT: North Korea reinforces ‘excessive’ security borders in new maps
The loudspeakers blast K-pop songs, defection of a North Korean diplomat, and BTS’ Jin’s torch-bearing ahead of the Paris Olympics, all things that are banned from the dictatorship region.
The noise can travel 6 miles during the day and 15 miles at night.
They have been set up at the heavily-fortified border.
South Korea hopes they’ll undermine Kim Jong-un’s rule by sending out information to citizens and demoralizing troops.
READ NEXT: North Korea warns harsh ‘consequences’ and urges South Korea and US to stop military drills
Comments are closed.