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Military personnel can be seen at a South Korean military facility near the border with North Korea that once was used for loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts on June 9, 2024. Whether loudspeakers had been reinstalled could not be verified. (Kim Bong-gyu/The Hankyoreh)

South Korea immediately resumed propaganda broadcasts on Sunday after North Korea sent another wave of trash balloons across the border.  

The interactions between the two Koreas are pushing the two sides into a vicious cycle of escalating military tensions, with South Korea resorting to a form of psychological warfare that North Korea is incredibly sensitive to for the first time in six years. 

North Korea sent what were suspected to be more trash-filled balloons across the border the same night. 

The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced on Sunday that South Korea’s military recommenced loudspeaker broadcasts that afternoon, keeping true to prior warnings to North Korea regarding their trash-filled balloons.  

The military broadcasted “Voice of Freedom,” a radio program run by the military, through loudspeakers near the border for two hours, starting at 5 pm.  

“Whether our military decides to go forward with more broadcasts depends entirely on North Korea’s actions,” the Joint Chiefs said. “We make it clear that all responsibility for this current situation lies with North Korea, and we urge North Korea to suspend its vile response of sending trash-filled balloons over the border.” 

On Sunday morning, national security adviser Chang Ho-jin chaired an emergency National Security Council standing committee meeting. “We will install loudspeakers and begin propaganda broadcasts to North Korea,” he said after the meeting.  

Presidential spokesperson Kim Soo-kyung stated, “The measures we will take may be unbearable for the North Korean regime but they will send a message of hope and light to the North’s troops and its people,” adding the warning, “We make it clear that any more escalation of tension on the Korean Peninsula is solely the responsibility of North Korea.” 

President Yoon Suk-yeol’s decision to suspend the Sept. 19 military agreement between the two Koreas on Tuesday set the stage for the resumption of propaganda broadcasts. This is the first time in six years that South Korea has turned on the loudspeakers, after all loudspeakers were uninstalled following the signing of the Panmunjom Declaration in April 2018. 

A presidential office official stated that the reasoning behind the resumption of propaganda broadcasts lay in the fact that “the government cannot stand back and do nothing while North Korea disrupts South Korean society and increases people’s anxiety.” 

While channels of communication between the two Koreas have been dismantled, the government is adopting a hard-line stance on the issue, giving the impression that both sides are determined to meet force with force. 

Concerns are growing over the possibility that, depending on how North Korea reacts to this turn of events, Korea could see the emergence of military conflict. 

The Joint Chiefs said that North Korea floated around 330 trash-filled balloons over the border from Saturday night to Sunday morning. Around 80 such balloons landed in South Korean territory, with some falling in the provinces of Gyeonggi and Gangwon.  

At 9:40 pm on Sunday, the Joint Chiefs announced that North Korea was once again floating what seemed to be trash-filled balloons to South Korea, and that “the balloons are moving from eastwards from north Gyeonggi Province.” 

 This marks the fourth time North Korea has sent trash-filled balloons over the border, with the first round coming on May 28-29, the second on June 1-2, and the third time on Saturday night to Sunday morning. 

By Jang Na-rye, staff reporter; Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporter 

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