(2nd LD) S. Korean military resumes loudspeaker broadcasts near border in response to N.K. balloons

South Korea has resumed propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts toward North Korea for the first time in more than a month, the military said Friday, in response to the North's latest round of its trash balloon campaign against the South. The broadcasts took place from Thursday evening to early Friday in areas near where the balloons were launched, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a notice to reporters. It did not provide further details. "Should North Korea ignore our warning and repeat such an action, our military will make sure to take all necessary measures for the North to rightly pay," the JCS said in a statement. The JCS condemned the North for carrying out such a "vulgar and dirty" act at a time when both South Koreans and North Koreans are suffering from heavy downpours, and warned that the military's response going forward will depend on North Korea's actions. This file photo shows loudspeakers being taken down at a western front-line unit in June 2004. (Yonhap) It marked the first anti-Pyong yang propaganda broadcasts near the border since June 9, when South Korea resumed blaring such broadcasts for the first time in six years in response to the North's repeated balloon campaigns. Since late May, North Korea has sent more than 2,000 trash-carrying balloons into the South 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. The latest propaganda broadcasts reportedly involved some of the speakers installed near the western section of the heavily fortified border and continued for approximately 10 hours, beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday. An analysis of the retrieved balloons showed they mostly carried scrap paper, the JCS said, adding there were no balloons that were in the air as of 9 a.m. South Korea turned on loudspeaker broadcasts last month after it fully suspen ded 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. One of the hundreds of trash-carrying balloons sent by North Korea overnight is found in a rice paddy in the northwestern border county of Ganghwa, in this June 10, 2024, file photo. (Yonhap) 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 powerful sister of the North's leader, threatened that South Korea will face "gruesome and dear" consequen ces if it lets North Korean defectors continue to send leaflets critical of North Korea. A JCS official assessed the latest launch to have been "less effective," given the weather conditions, but said the military will stay vigilant against new forms of possible provocations, such as shooting down leaflet-carrying balloons floated by South Korean activists or floating land mines toward the South amid heavy rains. The official did not elaborate on whether the military will conduct propaganda broadcasts every time the North launches trash-carrying balloons, saying the option is part of operational strategy. Source: Yonhap News Agency