Ping! Emergency phone alerts are not unusual in South Korea, but this one certainly caught the eye. “A North Korean waste balloon was discovered in Ansan,” it read, warning citizens of a city southwest of the capital, Seoul, to steer clear of what may have been a very unpleasant payload. The campaign began in May when thousands of huge white balloons carrying bags of garbage – including cigarette butts and, reportedly, excrement – drifted across the border from North Korea and disgorged their contents on streets and fields in the south – some 15 tonnes in total, according to reports.
In response, South Korea said it would dust off giant loudspeakers along its border with the North to recommence broadcasting propaganda messages and K-pop (Korean pop music). Surreal, yes, but the balloon war has had a sinister edge – South Korean military have worn biohazard suits while cleaning up the loads, wary that the trash might contain biological or chemical agents. It is also a highly visible sign that friction is increasing once again between the two nations, who went to war in 1950 and, technically, remain in conflict, since no peace agreement was ever signed.
After a tentative thaw with the South in pre-COVID-19 times, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has also ramped up his threats and the missile tests for which his nation is so well known, with 10 short-range rockets, for example, falling into the sea at the end of May. South Korea, meanwhile, has fully suspended an “a.