SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea, long a master of trash-talking, is following through with a trash attack — literally.
Some 260 “filth balloons” from North Korea had floated across the Demilitarized Zone into South Korea between late Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon, according to reports citing South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The balloons, some equipped with timer devices, apparently designed to disperse their cargoes, dumped garbage and sacks of manure across South Korea.
Landings have been reported on roads, apartment gardens and even greenhouses roofs. Some reached as far as 155 miles south of the border.
The Joint Chiefs said the novel tactics “violate international law” and are “inhumane and vulgar.”
Residents have been warned, via smartphone text alerts, not to touch anything that lands and to report it to authorities. Bio- and chemical-warfare response teams were dispatched to locations nationwide.
Also Wednesday, North Korea attempted – unsuccessfully – to jam military GPS signals off South Korea’s northwestern Yellow Sea coast.
The moves appear to be retaliation against recent releases, by anti-North activists in the South, of balloons carrying anti-regime messaging, northward over the DMZ.
Those releases, which often include data sticks containing news reports, K-pop and K-dramas, have long infuriated Pyongyang, which warned on May 26 that it would retaliate with “trash and filth.”
However, between 2016 and 2018, Pyongyang, too, had released balloons over the DMZ, dropping leaflets and crude cartoons with anti-Seoul messaging.
Amid deadly conflicts raging in Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere, balloons floating over the flashpoint peninsula appear reassuringly non-deadly.
They follow this week’s failed spy satellite launch attempt by Pyongyang and could harbor serious intent.
Historically, balloons heralded a massive shift in warfare that elevated conflict from the ground into an entirely new operational sphere. Experts say the North’s latest tactical innovation mirrors a significant shift in Pyongyang’s strategy.
One-off move – or a new offensive?
Balloons are harmless, but past roles show their potential for escalation.
In World War I, balloons dispersed propaganda materials over the Western Front and offered artillery spotters viewing platforms. Aerial battles, involving early fighter planes, raged over spotting balloons.
Recently, China has released high-altitude weather balloons over Taiwan and the United States – a tactic some experts consider probes. In 2023, an F-22 fighter downed one with a missile.
Lack of kinetic action over Korea has focused analyses on the messaging, rather than the balloons.
In January, North Korea overturned its policy line of peacefully reunifying with South Korea, implying that any future war will aim at mass destruction rather than liberation. The balloon offensive suggests that the South’s citizens, as well as its government, are now targets.
“If North Korea is actually sending some sort of manure – be it animal or human – with propaganda leaflets, it’s mixed messaging,” said Jacco Zwetsloot, a Seoul-based podcaster with specialist media NK Pro. “Since before the Korean War, North Korea has sought to win over the South Korean population and set them against the South Korean government, so this could signal that the South Korean people are no longer seen as worthy partners in a unification process.”
The sustainability of the balloon flights is up in the air.
“We will have to see if this is a one-off, or if it is a pattern,” Mr. Zwetsloot, a long-time student of North Korea’s populist propaganda materials, added.
In 2022, North Korean drones crossed the DMZ and loitered near Seoul’s two major international airports, and over Yongsan, a district that contains the Defense Ministry, the Presidential Office and U.S. troop presence.
Their penetration of air defenses and air space over high-value targets, and aerial interception failures, embarrassed Seoul.
Some feared the drones presaged prolonged aerial probing and economic warfare — by shutting down major airports — but the intrusions did not escalate into a campaign.
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.