03:22 PM
South Korea resumed its propaganda campaigns with loudspeakers aimed at the North on Sunday, after Pyongyang launched more than 300 balloons loaded with garbage into its territorybefore threatening with a “new response.”
The South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, on Tuesday completely suspended a military de-escalation agreement it signed with North Korea in 2018, after Pyongyang sent hundreds of balloons loaded with bags full of waste, from cigarette butts to animal excrement.
Keep reading: Israel was included in “the shameful list” of countries that violate children’s rights in armed conflicts
That pact, signed at a time of improved diplomatic relations between the two countries technically at war, was aimed at reducing tensions on the peninsula and avoiding a military escalation, especially along the militarized border.
Its complete suspension allows Seoul to resume live-fire exercises and propaganda campaigns against the North’s regime. with loudspeakers at the border, a technique that dates back to the Korean War (1950-1953).
At night, Kim Yo Jongthe powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said her regime would deliver a “new response” and warned of a “very dangerous situation,” South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, citing North Korean state news agency KCNA.
Kim Yo Jong stated that the latest balloon campaign was due to end this Sunday but that, as South Korea had resumed its loudspeaker propaganda campaign, “the situation changed.” “This is the prelude to a very dangerous situation,” said the sister of the North Korean leader, ensuring that “if South Korea opts for provocation, with pamphlets and loudspeakers […] will undoubtedly witness a new response.”
Corresponding measurement
On Sunday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul indicated that “the South Korean military made a loudspeaker broadcast this afternoon,” clarifying that “it depends entirely on North Korea’s actions” whether they make additional broadcasts. The presidential office had previously announced this action, calling it a “corresponding measure” to the more than 300 garbage balloons North Korea sent since Saturday.
These measures, although “they may be difficult to bear for the regime” of leader Kim Jong Un, “will transmit messages of light and hope for the North Korean army and citizens,” Seoul assured. The South Korean military affirmed that the analysis of the balloons that arrived on Saturday from the North “indicates that they do not contain substances harmful to safety,” specifying that they contained waste paper and plastics.
Read here: The United States, Colombia and 15 other countries ask Hamas to accept a truce proposal with Israel in Gaza
Conflict alert
In its campaigns, Seoul uses large loudspeakers to broadcast propaganda against the North Korean regime or K-pop music near the demilitarized zone that separates the two countries. These messages exasperate Pyongyang, which has already threatened to shoot the speakers with its artillery.
“It is very possible that the resumption of loudspeaker messages will lead to an armed conflict” and that “North Korea will resume its shooting in the Yellow Sea or shoot at the balloons if the South launches them again,” estimates Cheong Seong- chang, director of Korean Peninsula strategy at the Sejong Institute.
North Korea tried to erase the GPS signal trail for several days at the end of May, although it failed to stop South Korean military activity, according to this expert.
“This type of provocation is likely to appear in a much stronger form in the Yellow Sea,” he added.
