South Korea blares propaganda broadcasts for 3rd day against North Korea balloons

Seoul, July 20 (IANS) South Korea’s military on Saturday continued to send propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts toward North Korea in response to the North’s repeated launch of trash-carrying balloons across the border, sources said.

The anti-Pyongyang broadcasts started from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., the sources said.

The South Korean military had warned it could increase the number of loudspeakers and switch to a full-scale broadcast if the North stages further provocations, which includes sending trash balloons across the border, Yonhap news agency reported.

The first round of broadcasts reportedly involved speakers installed near the western section of the heavily fortified border and continued for approximately 10 hours. The broadcasts were also blared on Friday.

On June 9, South Korea resumed blaring such broadcasts for the first time in six years in response to the North’s balloon campaigns.

Since late May, North Korea has sent more than 2,000 trash-carrying balloons into the South on eight occasions in retaliation for North Korean defectors’ sending of anti-Pyongyang leaflets toward the North.

The JCS said it has detected around 200 trash-carrying balloons sent by the North since Thursday, with some 40 balloons landing in the northern area of Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul.

South Korea turned on loudspeaker broadcasts last month after it fully suspended the 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction agreement in response to the North’s massive sending of trash-carrying balloons.

The accord, signed under the former liberal Moon Jae-in administration, bans live-fire artillery drills near the border and other acts deemed hostile against each other.

North Korea has bristled against the loudspeaker campaigns, as well as anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent by South Korean activists, on fears that an influx of outside information could pose a threat to the Kim Jong-un regime.

Following the June 9 broadcast, North Korea warned of “new responses” against such psychological warfare, calling it a “prelude to a very dangerous situation.”

Earlier this week, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of the North’s leader, threatened that South Korea would face “gruesome and dear” consequences if it lets North Korean defectors continue to send leaflets critical of North Korea.

–IANS

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