Live Fire Border Incident As More Sh*t Balloons Sail Into South Korea
On Tuesday South Korea revealed that a new live fire incident occurred along the heavily militarized border with North Korea. South Korean border forces fired warning shots after troops on the other side 'accidentally' crossed the border in the south.
"There were no unusual movements other than the North Korean army immediately moving north after our warning shots," South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman, Col. Lee Sung-jun, told a briefing. He generally downplayed the incident which happened Sunday, and suggested there was no indication the enemy troops were seeking to invade territory. "The South Korean military is closely monitoring the movements of the North Korean military and taking necessary measures."
Threats and counterthreats have ramped up on the peninsula of late, particularly amid continuing 'trash balloon' launches from the north which have been a menace for the south. They have especially inundated South Korean communities near the border but have also at time reached the capital of Seoul.
This has involved literally hundreds of small and medium-sized balloons transporting rubbish and sometimes feces across the border into the south's territory.
CNN and other international outlets have tallied that over 1,000 of these balloons have sailed from the north since the end of May:
About 330 balloons carrying bags of trash had been sent by North Korea since Saturday night, of which about 80 have landed in South Korea, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Sunday.
Waste paper and plastic were found in the packages and there were no substances hazardous to safety, the JCS said.
Around 1,060 balloons from the North have made it into South Korean territory since May 28, according to a CNN tally.
Pyongyang's KCNA state news said that it total the north is sending 3,500 balloons filled with15 tonnes of trash, which strongly suggests the crisis is not over. The Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier cited the risk of "damaging residential areas, airports and highways" and HAZMAT teams have deployed to examine the contents of the sewage and 'sh*t balloons'.
The South Korean military has said it is retaliating by resuming a loudspeaker broadcast into North Korea, which hasn't happened since 2018, as a necessary psychological warfare tactic.
Seoul has described the broadcasts as educating soldiers and citizens of the north of the "reality" of their regime compared to the benefits of the south's culture and free way of life.
A statement further said North Korea is "fully responsible" for the escalating crisis and urged Pyongyang to "immediately stop such mean acts like sending waste balloons."
North Korea says it'll stop sending trash balloons, hours after South Korea threatened to turn propaganda loudspeakers back on across the DMZ.
— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 4, 2024
South Korea has used loudspeakers along its border with North Korea to broadcast K-pop music and other propaganda since 2015. pic.twitter.com/ee2eG57R6E
Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has warned that the resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts is "a prelude to a very dangerous situation." She threatened imminent tit-for-tat retaliation. Likely there will also be more ballistic missile launches and tests from the north.