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By Micah McCartney
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Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, issued a stern warning to South Korea, stating it will "pay a terrible price" if more propaganda balloons are launched across the border.
"If the naïve and filthy behavior of the Korean garbage continues, a change in our response method will inevitably be raised," North Korean state media quoted her as saying on Tuesday.
Since late May, North Korea has sent over 2,000 balloons filled with sewage and garbage into South Korea. The balloons are a response to the balloons sent north by activists in the South that contain carry leaflets critical of the Kim regime and USB sticks loaded with South Korean pop music and TV shows.
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Kim said that early Tuesday, 29 large South Korean balloons were found near the border and further inland, with additional leaflets discovered in other areas. "The specialized organs are busy with their work and people's inconvenience is increasing in many areas due to the blocking of relevant districts," she remarked.
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She added that this was a "situation we cannot overlook," warning: "You will have to pay a terrible price."
The statement followed an earlier press release on Sunday in which Kim said South Korean balloons had been discovered in 17 locations. That statement included her cryptic warning that Pyongyang had "fully introduced our countermeasures" and that Seoul should prepare to "pay a high price."
In response, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea would bear full responsibility if South Korean citizens suffer from the North's trash-carrying balloons.
The North Korean embassy in China didn't immediately respond to a written request for comment.
The tit-for-tat exchanges come amid heightened tensions between the neighbors, with North Korea conducting a series of missile tests and both countries putting on shows of force near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the neighbors as well as their de facto maritime border. Both countries have suspended a 2018 agreement that had banned such activities to reduce the risk of conflict.
Despite the 1953 armistice ending major hostilities, the two Koreas remain technically at war, as a peace treaty was never signed.
In a move reminiscent of the Cold War, South Korea has responded to the North's balloon waves by redeploying high-power loudspeakers at the border to broadcast anti-Pyongyang propaganda and music highlighting the freedoms enjoyed in the South.
Adding to the instability on the Korean Peninsula is the North's deepening relationship with Russia.
Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin last month signed a military assistance treaty, the first such agreement between Pyongyang and Moscow since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This drew indignation from the South, which threatened to review arms shipments to Ukraine, depending on the extent of Russian aid to the Kim regime.
Update 7/24/24, 8:50 a.m. ET: The headline of this article was updated with an alternate translation.
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