SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The powerful sister of the North Korean leader Kim Yong Un On Sunday he vowed to respond to what he called a new South Korean civilian pamphlet campaign, signaling that North Korea would soon resume. Balloons carrying garbage flying over the border.
Since the end of May, North Korea has Lots of balloons floated In cases of midnight launches, waste paper, rags, cigarette butts and even dung were carried towards South Korea, which it said was a countermeasure. South Korean activists distributing political leaflets With their own balloons. No hazardous materials were found. South Korea has responded to this Suspends the 2018 tension-reduction agreement Live fire drills resumed with North Korea and in border areas.
Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media that “dirty pamphlets and (South Korean) debris” had been rediscovered on the border with North Korea and other areas on Sunday morning.
“(North Korea) has warned many times, but the (South Korean) filth has not stopped this crude and dirty drama,” he said.
“We have fully introduced our countermeasures in such a situation. The (South Korean) clans will be tired of experiencing bitter humiliation and must be ready to pay a very high price for their dirty play,” Kim Yo Jong said.
North Korea last sent balloons carrying debris toward South Korea in late July. It was not immediately clear which activist group in South Korea sent the balloons to North Korea recently. For years, groups led by North Korean defectors have floated large balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets, K-pop songs and USB sticks containing South Korean drama and US dollar bills toward North Korea.
Experts say North Korea views such balloon campaigns as a serious provocation that threatens its leadership, as it bans official access to foreign news for most of its 26 million people.
On June 9, South Korea was again deployed Huge loudspeakers At the border for the first time in six years, it was restarted Anti-North Korean propaganda broadcast.
South Korean officials say they do not restrict the flying of leaflets to North Korea in accordance with a 2023 Constitutional Court ruling that struck down a controversial law that criminalized such leaflets as a violation of freedom of speech.
Kim Yo Jong’s statement came as North Korea’s defense ministry threatened to increase its nuclear capability and pay an “unimaginably heavy price” as the United States and South Korea hit back at its rivals. New safety guidelines It says express an intention to invade the north.
