S. Korea blares propaganda broadcasts for 3rd day in response to NK balloons
Loudspeakers being taken down at a western border unit, are seen June 9. Yonhap
South Korea's military continued to send propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts toward North Korea, Saturday, in response to the North's repeated launch of trash-carrying balloons across the border, sources said.
The anti-Pyongyang broadcasts ran from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., the sources said.
The military had warned it could increase the number of loudspeakers and switch to full-scale broadcasting if the North stages further provocations, including sending trash balloons across the border.
The first round of broadcasts reportedly involved speakers installed near the western section of the heavily fortified border and continued for approximately 10 hours. The broadcasts were also aired Friday.
On June 9, South Korea resumed blaring such broadcasts for the first time in six years in response to the North's balloon campaign.
Since late May, North Korea has sent more than 2,000 trash-carrying balloons into the South over eight occasions in retaliation for North Korean defectors' sending of anti-Pyongyang leaflets toward the North.
The JCS said it has detected around 200 trash-carrying balloons sent by the North since Thursday, with some 40 landing in the northern area of Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul.
South Korea turned on loudspeaker broadcasts last month after it fully suspended the 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction agreement in response to the North's massive sending of trash-carrying balloons.
The accord, signed under the former liberal Moon Jae-in administration, bans live-fire artillery drills near the border and other acts deemed hostile to each other.
North Korea has bristled against the loudspeaker campaigns, as well as anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent by South Korean activists, for fear that an influx of outside information could pose a threat to the Kim Jong-un regime.
Following the June 9 broadcast, North Korea warned of "new responses" against such psychological warfare, calling it a "prelude to a very dangerous situation."
Earlier this week, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North's leader, threatened that South Korea will face "gruesome and dear" consequences if it lets North Korean defectors continue to send leaflets critical of North Korea. (Yonhap)
Trash-carrying balloons floated over from North Korea are seen in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, June 9. Yonhap