SEOUL (AFP): South Korea’s military said it was on alert for possibly more trash-carrying balloons arriving from North Korea on Sunday, a potential response to the propaganda balloons sent this week by South Korean activists. North Korea sent hundreds of balloons in two waves last week with bags of trash into the South, describing them as a response to anti-Pyongyang propaganda balloons sent the other way by South Korean activists. Pyongyang announced a halt to the balloons on Sunday but days later, a South Korean group called “Fighters for Free North Korea” said it had sent 10 balloons with USB thumb drives containing K-pop music and 200,000 leaflets against leader Kim Jong Un.
The South Korean military is “closely monitoring with vigilance” because of “the possibility of more trash balloons descending around tomorrow”, its spokesperson told AFP on Saturday. North Korea had said it would respond with “wastepaper and rubbish” a hundred times the amount if more South Korean leaflets were sent. Another group, comprising North Korean defectors, said it had sent 10 balloons on Friday with 200,000 anti-Pyongyang leaflets, 100 radios, and USB thumb drives containing a speech by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Jang Se-yul, the leader of the group, told AFP on Saturday his organisation will not stop its campaign, “whether Kim Jong Un sends trash-carrying balloons again or not”. The North Korean balloons last week landed in a number of locations in the Sout.
