Lee Hyo-jin covers the Bank of Korea, the banking industry and broader financial news. Her previous beats include foreign affairs, North Korea and general reporting on Korean society.
Will propaganda speakers stop North Korea from sending trash balloons?
South Korean soldiers inspect loudspeakers before installing them near the inter-Korean border, in this photo released June 9. Courtesy of Joint Chiefs of Staff
By Lee Hyo-jin
Seoul operates loudspeakers at full scale in response to 9th batch of balloons from Pyongyang
North Korea launched another flotilla of trash-filled balloons toward South Korea, Sunday, just three days after Seoul resumed daily propaganda broadcasts along the border in a tit-for-tat move to counter Pyongyang’s balloon offensive on Thursday.
This latest launch marks the North’s ninth "balloon offensive" since the first one in late May. In response, the South's military has fully implemented its loudspeaker broadcasts along the DMZ starting Sunday afternoon.
Observers say that the South Korean government seems to be caught in a chicken-or-egg dilemma, highlighting the need for more effective measures to address the intensifying cross-border psychological warfare.
In a text message sent to reporters around 9:15 a.m., the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the balloons appeared to be heading toward northern Gyeonggi Province.
The military detected around 360 balloons in the air, with approximately 100 falling within South Korea's territory, mostly in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province.
“We will respond firmly to these balloons using the loudspeakers currently in operation,” a JCS official told The Korea Times shortly after the balloons were spotted.
Later in the day, the JCS announced that it would operate all fixed loudspeakers across the border regions simultaneously from 1 p.m.
Since last Thursday, the military has been operating several fixed speakers from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., deployed along the western, central and eastern sections of the DMZ, with broadcasts differing by region and time.
From now on, the speakers will be turned on in all border regions at the same time each day until the North halts its balloon launches, a military official said.
These broadcasts include K-pop songs and news critical of the North Korean regime, such as recent reports on the defection of North Korean diplomats to the South. High-powered speakers reportedly have a listening range of 10 to 30 kilometers, depending on the equipment and time of day.
A balloon carrying garbage sent by North Korea is seen in Jeongseon, Gangwon Province, June 10. Yonhap
With its ninth balloon offensive, Pyongyang has now launched over 2,000 trash-filled balloons since May 28, according to the JCS. These balloons have primarily contained wastepaper and cigarette butts, with earlier ones even including manure. No hazardous materials have been reported.
Sunday’s launch occurred in the morning, deviating from the usual late-night timing of previous launches. The reason for this change is unclear, but some speculate it could be due to wind patterns or weather conditions during the monsoon season affecting the Korean Peninsula.
The North Korean regime argues that the trash balloons are a tit-for-tat response to South Korea-based activists releasing anti-Pyongyang leaflets and USB drives containing K-pop and trot music into North Korea.
Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies, described the situation as a "chicken or the egg" problem.
“The North claims their balloons are in retaliation for South Korea’s propaganda leaflets, while the South Korean military argues that the loudspeakers are a response to these balloon launches. It’s a repeating cycle for the last two months,” Yang said.
However, Yang questioned the effectiveness of the loudspeakers, noting that they have not deterred the North from sending the trash balloons.
"Rather, the speakers might provoke further military provocations from Pyongyang, putting residents near the border in harm's way," the expert said, noting that Pyongyang reacted angrily to the loudspeaker broadcasts in August 2015 by firing artillery shots toward the South.
The Kim regime has warned of "new forms of retaliation" in response to the anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets.
“If 'South Korean trash' persists in their petty and dirty actions, we will inevitably have to change our response methods," Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said in a statement released on July 16.
Yang speculated that new forms of retaliation from the North could include disrupting major airports with trash-laden balloons, GPS jamming or cyberattacks on government systems.
Wastepaper from balloons launched by North Korea is scattered on a road in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday. Courtesy of Joint Chiefs of Staff