South Korea has vowed to blast “unbearable” noise at North Korea for the first time since 2018 after Pyongyang sent more sewage-filled balloons over the border.
Seoul’s national security council said on Sunday it will restart loudspeaker broadcasts of anti-North Korean propaganda after 330 balloons dropped 15 tonnes of rubbish in South Korea throughout the weekend.
Three waves of sewage-filled balloons, filled with manure, cigarette butts, scraps of cloth, batteries and wastepaper, have been sent into the south since May.
South Korea’s security council said: “The measures we will take may be unbearable for the North Korean regime, but they will send a message of hope and light to the North’s troops and its people.”
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National security director Chang Ho-jin and other officials added that North Korea is trying to create “anxiety and disruption” in the south and is “solely responsible” for any escalation of tensions.
South Korea stopped its loudspeaker broadcasts in 2018 during a brief period of diplomacy with Pyongyang, when the countries signed an agreement to ease tensions.
When they last were active, the broadcasts played K-pop songs, weather reports and attacks on North Korea’s leadership.
Coming from multiple speakers stacked in large racks, South Korea’s military also claims the sound can travel more than 12.4 miles into North Korea.
South Korea suspended the six-year peace agreement on 4 June in the wake of North Korea’s sewage balloon campaign, clearing the way for Seoul to resume broadcasts and also restart live-fire drills near the border.
North Korea has said the operation was in response to South Korean activists sending leaflets and propaganda over the demilitarized zone.
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After sending its second wave of balloons at the start of June, North Korea said it would stop its “unpleasant” campaign but warned it would carry on if more leaflets were dropped.
South Koreans defied the warning and continued to fly over material criticising Kim Jong Un, as well as USB sticks containing K-pop videos and dramas.
