South Korean activists send propaganda balloons north

AFP | Seoul

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com

South Korean activists said yesterday they had sent 10 balloons loaded with anti-Kim Jong Un leaflets and K-pop music into North Korea, in response to hundreds of trash-carrying balloons from Pyongyang.

North Korea has said its recent balloon blitz lugging bags of garbage such as cigarette butts and plastic waste was retaliation for previous missives sent by the activists.

Pyongyang called off its campaign Sunday, but has warned it would restart if more balloons came north. Past propaganda tit-for-tats have had real-world consequences for inter-Korean relations.

South Korea has called the latest provocation from its nuclear-armed neighbour “irrational” and “low-class” but, unlike the North’s spate of recent ballistic missile launches, the trash campaign does not violate UN sanctions on Kim’s isolated government.