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Park Chan-kyong

South Korea’s vow to take “stern military measures” if public safety is threatened by the thousands of trash-filled balloons North Korea has floated southwards in recent weeks marks the latest shot across the bows in a tit-for-tat exchange that shows no signs of abating.
Incheon International Airport, one of Asia’s busiest, experienced temporary stoppages on Monday after a balloon was spotted nearby.
Operations were halted for about 70 minutes before authorities confirmed that the balloon had landed in the ocean. However, just 10 minutes after flights had resumed, debris was discovered within the airport compound, prompting another brief suspension of operations.
“Further disruptions in air traffic are expected as debris from trash-carrying balloons continues to be spotted,” an airport official told the JoongAng Daily.
North Korean balloons caused five runway disruptions at Incheon and Gimpo airports in June and July, affecting 133 flights and 18,000 passengers, according to data submitted by Seoul aviation authorities to the National Assembly.

Since late May, North Korea has launched around 5,500 trash-filled balloons on 22 separate occasions, retaliating against anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent by defectors and activists in the South.
This month alone, the North has conducted 11 such launches, including a barrage of about 120 balloons from Sunday evening to Monday morning.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff on Monday condemned the “shameful behaviour” that they said was aimed at sowing internal divisions within the country. “If serious danger is caused to the safety of our citizens or if the North is assessed to have crossed the line, our military will take stern military measures,” they said in a statement.
In response to the balloons, South Korea’s military has resumed propaganda broadcasts along the 248km border using powerful loudspeakers. The North countered by restarting its own broadcasts in an attempt to jam the messages, creating noise disturbances for residents living near the heavily fortified boundary.
Balloon backlash
Lee Il-woo, a senior researcher at the Korea Defence Network think tank, suggested that the South could fire on the North’s balloons using small-calibre machine guns mounted on helicopters.
“Such actions could be justified as self-defence and wouldn’t breach international laws if the North’s balloons cause harm to the lives of South Koreans,” he told This Week in Asia.
Lee said Pyongyang was “collecting data by continuously launching these balloons to the South to use them as potential weapons” that could disrupt radar systems if an armed conflict were to occur.


Meanwhile, South Korea’s top security official Shin Won-sik warned on Monday that the North may be preparing to escalate tensions further by conducting its seventh nuclear test.
“North Korea has always maintained the ability to conduct its seventh nuclear test whenever Kim Jong-un decides,” he said, adding that “the period surrounding the US election is one possible time”.
The exchange of balloons between the two Koreas is not a new phenomenon. South Korean activists regularly send balloons containing critical leaflets and cultural materials across the border.
North Korea has historically reacted strongly to these actions, even firing upon some of the balloons in 2014 – leading to a dangerous exchange of gunfire between the two sides that raised fears of an escalation, though no injuries were reported.

If the North’s balloons were to carry biological or chemical agents, it would pose a severe threat to South Korean lives and could be perceived as “a declaration of war”, said Yang Moo-jin, a political-science professor and head of the University of North Korean Studies.
While the South could shoot down balloons near the border, such actions “are fraught with dangers of escalation,” he warned.
Instead, Yang proposed less risky strategies, such as deploying drones or cyberattacks, but acknowledged their lack of sustainability.
“The simplest solution to end the endless cycle of tit-for-tat is for the South to prevent its activists from launching their balloons,” he said.


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South Korea

South Korean soldiers stand guard near a balloon presumably sent by North Korea in Muju in May. Photo: Jeonbuk Fire Headquarters via AP

Objects believed to be trash-carrying balloons (circled in red) sent by North Korea are seen flying over Seoul on Monday. Photo: Yonhap/EPA-EFE

Balloons are seen from Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, on September 5. Photo: AP

‘Show of force’: are North Korea’s missile tests a sign it has given up on diplomacy with US?

The North Korean Missile Administration successfully test-fires the Hwasongpho-11-Da-4.5, a new tactical ballistic missile equipped with a 4.5-ton warhead. Photo: KCNA

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (centre) inspecting the test-fire of the Hwasongpho-11-Da-4.5, a new tactical ballistic missile, equipped with a 4.5-tonne warhead. Photo: KCNA/dpa

The test-fire of the Hwasongpho-11-Da-4.5, a new tactical ballistic missile equipped with a 4.5-tonne warhead. Photo: KCNA/dpa

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un test-fires small arms, including a 7.62mm sniper rifle and a 5.56mm automatic rifle, developed by the Academy of Defence Science. Photo: KCNA/dpa

South Korea’s military intelligence faces overhaul after classified leaks to North

South Korean soldiers during drills in Seoul last month. Photo: EPA-EFE

South Korea suspends peace pact with North over trash-filled balloons, raising risk of military clashes

A North Korean military guard post (top) and South Korean post (bottom) are seen from Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, on May 31. Photo: AP

South Korean army soldiers patrol along the barbed-wire fence in Paju, near the border with North Korea, on May 31. Photo: AP

Military personnel collect the debris of balloons sent by North Korea in Incheon, west of Seoul, South Korea, on Sunday. Photo: EPA-EFE/Yonhap

Members of an organisation of defectors from North Korea send balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border from the South Korean border city of Paju in April 2016. Photo: EPA-EFE/Yonhap

The defectors whose airborne propaganda enraged North Korea

Members of defector organisation Fighters for Free North Korea release balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border in this 2016 file photo. Photo: EPA

FILE PHOTO: Park Sang-Hak, a North Korean defector living in the South and leader of an anti-North Korea civic group, holds a balloon containing leaflets denouncing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Paju, South Korea, March 26, 2016, on the sixth anniversary of the sinking of the naval ship Cheonan. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo

FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2018, file photo, Kim Yo Jong, right, helps her brother North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sign a joint statement following the summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Paekhwawon State Guesthouse in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea has threatened to end an inter-Korean military agreement reached in 2018 to reduce tensions if the South fails to prevent activists from flying anti-Pyongyang leaflets over the border. The powerful sister of Kim Yo Jong also said Thursday, June 4, 20202, the North could permanently shut a liaison office with the South and an inter-Korean factory park in the border town of Kaesong, which have been major symbols of reconciliation between the rivals. (Pyongyang Press Corps Pool via AP, File)

Park Sang-Hak, who is a North Korean defector living in the South and a leader of an anti-North Korean civic group, scatters anti-North Korean leaflets as he speaks to the media from the roof of a car while the police block him and other activists on a highway leading to the Imjingak pavilion near the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas in Paju, north of Seoul, October 22, 2012. South Korean police banned activists from sending propaganda leaflets across the heavily militarised border into North Korea on Monday, following last week's threat of attack by Pyongyang if they went ahead. REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won (SOUTH KOREA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS)

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With public safety at stake, the South’s response could include targeted actions against the balloons themselves, observers say


With public safety at stake, the South’s response could include targeted actions against the balloons themselves, observers say.
