Pyongyang and Seoul exchange increasingly heated rhetoric as Kim Jong-un expands military cooperation with Russia.
Garbage carried by a North Korean balloon fell for the second time on the presidential compound in central Seoul on Thursday, raising concerns about the vulnerability of key South Korean sites.
According to South Korea’s presidential security service, no dangerous objects were found in the waste released when one of the North Korean balloons burst above the presidential complex Thursday morning.
The incident comes after the two rival Koreas stepped up their threats and rhetoric against each other, with the North claiming the South flew drones over Pyongyang earlier this month to disperse propaganda leaflets.
North Korea has sent thousands of balloons carrying various plastic and paper waste, but no hazardous materials, into South Korean airspace since late May, a return to Cold War-era psychological tactics. Trash that fell on South Korea’s presidential compound in July also did not contain any hazardous objects.
It was not immediately clear whether South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was at the compound when the final balloon released its payload. He met with Polish President Andrzej Duda, as planned, later in the day.
South Korean media reported that on Thursday, North Korean leaflets criticizing Yoon and his wife Kim Keon-hee were found in the Yongsan district of Seoul, where Yoon’s presidential office is located.
Media outlets published photos of some leaflets depicting the president’s wife as a latter-day Marie Antoinette.
Local media said it was the first time North Korean leaflets had been found in South Korea since the balloon campaign began about five months ago.
South Korea’s presidential security service has yet to specifically confirm the reports, but South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff have urged North Korea to stop spreading “rude leaflets” slandering the president – and warned that Pyongyang would be fully responsible for any consequences.
However, experts say it is unlikely that North Korea has the sophisticated technology needed to drop balloons on specific targets.
“Whether the balloons have GPS or not, it’s about launching them in large numbers and reaching the right altitude based on wind direction and speed, so they can travel through these winds,” said honorary researcher Lee Choon-geun. at the Institute of Science and Technology Policy of South Korea.
“Although some media outlets claim that the accuracy of the balloons has improved, this improved accuracy is not because they have equipped them with some sort of guidance system, but rather because it is the season when the winds blow towards the south.
Tit-for-tat retaliation
North Korea has accused South Korea of using drones to drop propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang three times in the past month and threatened retaliation if it happens again.
Seoul declined to confirm whether the accusation was true, instead warning that North Korea would risk the end of its rule if the safety of South Korean citizens was threatened.
North Korea said its balloon activities were retaliation for the actions of South Korean activists who launched anti-Kim leaflets toward Pyongyang attached to their own balloons.
South Korea responded to the trash balloons by resuming propaganda broadcasts from loudspeakers placed in border areas, prompting North Korea to reactivate its own front-line loudspeakers.
Kim Jong-un has recently increased the pace of his weapons testing and significantly expanded his country’s open military cooperation with Russia.
U.S. and South Korean officials said Wednesday that some 3,000 North Korean troops are now training in several locations in Russia. According to South Korea, Pyongyang plans to eventually send a total of 10,000 troops to Russia to support the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which has significantly depleted Russian forces.
South Korea fears that Russia will reward North Korea for its contribution by bringing sophisticated technologies to its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, both aimed at South Korea and the United States.