(3rd LD) S. Korea to continue to blast propaganda broadcasts in response to N.K. balloons

(ATTN: RECASTS headline; UPDATES first six paras with additional loudspeaker broadcast)
By Lee Minji

SEOUL, July 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's military said Friday it will continue to conduct propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts toward North Korea in response to the North's repeated launch of trash-carrying balloons across the border.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it began the broadcasts at 4 p.m. and continue them on a similar scale, not a full-scale broadcast, to the first broadcast conducted from Thursday evening to early Friday, which targeted areas where the balloons were launched.

The first round of broadcasts reportedly involved speakers installed near the western section of the heavily fortified border and continued for approximately 10 hours, beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday.

"Our military endured and through numerous warnings offered the North Korean military an opportunity to cease its own actions. It once again repeated such dirty acts at a time when both the South and North suffered substantial damage from heavy rains," the JCS said in a statement.

"We assessed this could no longer be overlooked amid signs of preparations for additional balloon launches," it added, calling the balloon campaign a clear violation of the armistice agreement that threatens the daily lives of South Koreans.

"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, warning of "more powerful" measures in the event of additional provocations.

The back-to-back broadcasts marked the first anti-Pyongyang 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 balloon campaigns.

Since late May, North Korea has sent more than 2,000 trash-carrying balloons into the South over 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.

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 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 powerful sister of the North's leader, threatened that South Korea will face "gruesome and dear" consequences 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.

mlee@yna.co.kr
(END)