North Korean Balloons Dump Trash on South Korean Presidential Compound

July 24, 2024 by No Comments

On Wednesday, trash carried by at least one balloon landed on the South Korean presidential compound, raising concerns about the security of key South Korean facilities during North Korean provocations.

The South Korean presidential security service stated that the rubbish found on the presidential compound in central Seoul contained no dangerous material and no one was hurt. While North Korea likely lacks sophisticated technology to drop balloons on specific targets, some experts suggest South Korea should shoot down incoming North Korean balloons next time to protect major facilities, as they might contain hazardous substances in the future.

North Korea’s latest balloon launches followed South Korea’s recent increase in broadcasts of K-pop songs and propaganda messages across the heavily armed border between the two countries. Their tit-for-tat Cold War-style campaigns are escalating tensions, with both sides threatening stronger measures and warning of grave consequences.

Seoul officials previously stated that North Korea utilized wind direction to fly balloons toward South Korea. However, some past balloons were equipped with timers, likely intended to burst the trash bags in midair.

The security service declined to provide further details about the rubbish found at the presidential compound. They refused to disclose whether President Yoon Suk Yeol was at the compound when the balloons were flying over his office, a no-fly zone in South Korea.

A strong response from South Korea is anticipated if North Korea is found to have employed timers or any other device to deliberately dump trash on the presidential office. However, experts contend that dropping balloons on selected ground targets necessitates advanced technology, which North Korea is unlikely to possess.

“Some of (the hundreds of balloons) launched by North Korea landed on the presidential compound by coincidence. North Korea has no technology to precisely drop balloons at certain targets,” said Jung Chang Wook, head of the Korea Defense Study Forum think tank in Seoul.

Jung explained that a GPS navigation device and a power system would need to be attached to a balloon to make it fall on specific sites, and North Korea does not possess such balloons. He believes North Korea likely aimed for the balloons to land in Seoul, about an hour’s drive from the border, after considering factors such as the weight of the trash bags tied to the balloons, the volume of air in the balloons, and weather conditions.

Lee Illwoo, an expert with the Korea Defense Network in South Korea, said strong winds in Seoul would also make it impossible for North Korea to target specific locations with balloons.

Earlier on Wednesday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that North Korea had resumed floating balloons across the border, marking the 10th such launch since late May.

The over 2,000 North Korean balloons discovered in South Korea in recent weeks carried wastepaper, scraps of cloth, cigarette butts, and even manure. North Korea has claimed these actions were in response to South Korean activists who have scattered political leaflets across the border via their own balloons.

North Korea’s balloons have not caused significant damage but have raised security concerns among people worried that it could use such balloons to drop chemical and biological agents.

South Korea has avoided shooting at the balloons due to the potential damage caused by falling bullets and the possibility that the balloons might contain hazardous substances.

Lee suggested that South Korea should still shoot down North Korean balloons in border areas, as attacking them over the populous Seoul area would be too risky if they contain dangerous items like biological agents. However, there are concerns that doing so could provoke skirmishes with North Korea. Jung proposed that South Korea could use recently developed laser weapons to intercept North Korean balloons.

Experts believe North Korea considers leafleting activities by South Korean civilian groups a major threat to its efforts to prevent the inflow of foreign news and maintain its authoritarian rule. In furious responses to past South Korean leafleting, North Korea destroyed an empty South Korean-built liaison office in its territory in 2020 and fired at incoming balloons in 2014.

said Sunday it was ramping up its anti-North Korean propaganda broadcasts from loudspeakers at all major sites along the land border because the North was continuing its launches of trash-carrying balloons. South Korea restarted its loudspeaker broadcasts last Thursday for the first time in about 40 days in retaliation for North Korea’s previous balloon activities.

Observers believe the propaganda broadcasts can demoralize front-line North Korean troops and residents. In 2015, North Korea fired artillery rounds across the border in response to South Korea’s restart of propaganda broadcasts, prompting the South to return fire.

South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Lee Sung Joon stated that the current South Korean broadcasts include K-pop songs and news on South Korean economic development. South Korean media reported that the broadcasts also included news on the recent defection of a senior North Korean diplomat and labeled the planting of land mines by North Korean soldiers at the border “hellish, slave-like lives.”

South Korea has an estimated 40 loudspeakers — 24 stationary and 16 mobile ones. South Korea’s military said Monday it was operating all of the fixed loudspeakers and plans to use the mobile loudspeakers as well.

North Korea has not officially responded to the South Korean propaganda broadcasts. However, last week, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of , threatened new countermeasures against South Korean civilian leafleting, warning that South Korean “scum” must be ready to pay “a gruesome and dear price” for their actions.