North Korea said on Sunday it will stop sending waste-filled balloons to South Korea, after the democratic nation vowed to take “intolerable” steps in retaliation.
A North Korean deputy defense minister, Kim Kang II, said Sunday that his country sent the balloons in response to South Korea’s past leafleting campaigns, which often spread messages critical of North Korean leaders to people living in the authoritarian country and who therefore do not have access to news from outside.
Kim said the country is willing to resume sending waste-filled balloons if South Korea resumes its anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflet campaign to North Korea.
“We made sure that the ROK (Republic of Korea) clans got enough experience of how much discomfort they feel and how much effort is needed to remove the scattered waste paper,” Kim said in a statement carried by North Korean state media, The Associated Press reported.
Earlier on Sunday, South Korea vowed to respond to the provocations with “intolerable” steps, which experts predicted could include frontline loudspeaker broadcasts to the North, the AP reported. Experts predicted the broadcasts would target North Korean citizens, criticizing their authoritarian government’s record of human rights abuses, reporting on world news and playing K-pop songs.
The South Korean military said it discovered more than 700 balloons sent from North Korea on Sunday, after finding 260 earlier this week. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the balloons were tied to manure, waste paper and other trash. North Korea said it had flown 3,500 balloons containing 15 tons of waste paper.
South Korean officials said the “unbearable” retaliation would be a response to the balloons, but also to South Korea’s alleged GPS signal jamming and the North’s simulation of nuclear attacks on the South in recent years. to dawn.
The Associated Press contributed to the reporting.
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