(Seoul) South Korea resumed a loudspeaker propaganda campaign towards the North on Sunday, denouncing the “escalation” by Pyongyang which sent it 330 new balloons of garbage the day before.
“The South Korean army carried out a loudspeaker broadcast this afternoon,” according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which specifies that the continuation of this type of broadcast “depends entirely on the actions of South Korea. North “.
South Korea’s presidency had previously warned of the operation, describing it as “corresponding measures” after Pyongyang sent some 350 balloons filled with garbage on Saturday in a new such campaign.
“We will install loudspeakers towards North Korea today and begin broadcasting” propaganda, the presidency said in a statement.
Although they “may be difficult for the regime” of Kim Jong-un to bear, these measures “will convey messages of light and hope to the North Korean army and citizens,” Seoul says. “The responsibility for the escalation of tension between the two Koreas would fall entirely on the North.”
While the balloon launches do not violate United Nations sanctions, unlike the ballistic missile tests, relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest levels in years. Analysts warn of a risk that this escalation will lead to real military clashes.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday suspended the entirety of a detente military agreement concluded in 2018 with North Korea, after Pyongyang sent nearly a thousand balloons weighted with bags full of various trash, ranging from cigarette butts to animal excrement.
After announcing an end to it on June 2, North Korea started again on Saturday, in reaction to the sending north this week by activists in South Korea of new balloons with K-pop, dollar notes and propaganda hostile to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The South Korean army, which said on Saturday that it was in a state of alert, estimated on Sunday at nearly 330 the number of new balloons filled with rubbish sent the day before by Pyongyang.
“So far, about 80 [ballons] fell in our area and nothing is currently identified in the air,” the Seoul Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
Analysis of these balloons shows that they did not contain “any dangerous substances”, she said on Sunday. However, it warned its citizens to stay away from these aerostats and to report their presence to the authorities.
Risk of “armed conflict”
The total suspension of the 2018 agreement allows Seoul to resume live-fire exercises and relaunch propaganda campaigns against the North’s regime via loudspeakers along the border.
The South says it carries out this type of propaganda, which dates back to the Korean War (1950-1953), in retaliation for what it sees as continued North Korean provocations.
She last used it in 2016, after Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test.
During these campaigns, Seoul uses huge megaphones to broadcast K-pop or anti-regime propaganda in areas close to the demilitarized zone separating the two countries, which technically remain at war.
These broadcasts of messages infuriate Pyongyang, which has already threatened to target the speakers with its artillery if they were not turned off.
South Korea’s opposition Democratic Party (DP) criticized the Seoul government for not doing more against ballooning by South Korean activists, accusing them on Sunday of using “freedom of expression.” as a means of compromising the security of our people.”
The PD also criticized the resumption of propaganda via loudspeakers, because “the government’s initiative poses a risk of escalation towards a regional war”, according to a spokesperson.
“It is very possible that the resumption of loudspeaker messages will lead to armed conflict” and that “North Korea will resume its firing in the Yellow Sea or that it will shoot at balloons if the South sends them again,” said Cheong Seong-chang, director of Korean Peninsula strategy at the Sejong Institute.
North Korea also reportedly tried to jam GPS signals for several days at the end of May, without apparently succeeding in hindering any South Korean military activity.
“It is likely that this type of provocation will appear in a much stronger form in the West Sea as well,” Cheong Seong-chang added.