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Are North Korea's trash balloons a sign of bigger tensions?

180 0
04.06.2024

The South Korean government has warned it is planning countermeasures against North Korea, which has dramatically ramped up provocations following a failed attempt to place a spy satellite into orbit on May 27.

South Korea's ruling People Power Party (PPP) convened a meeting of its emergency committee on Monday to consider responses to the North's actions since the rocket carrying the satellite exploded in mid-air shortly after launch.

Since late May, North Korea has jammed GPS signals over a wide area off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula, potentially endangering civilian air and maritime traffic. The North also fired 10 short-range ballistic missiles and rounds from 18 multiple rocket launchers into the Sea of Japan.

Pyongyang has also issued threats against shipping operating near the disputed sea border off the west coast, and claims to have released 2,000 balloons carrying trash and human waste over the border into the South.

Authorities in the South have confirmed around 700 have landed, causing minor damage and spreading human feces and rubbish at landing sites.

On Monday, senior PPP official Choo Kyung-ho said the regime of Kim Jong Un in North Korea would "inevitably pay the price" for the provocations and demanded an immediate apology from Pyongyang.

The government on Monday decided to fully suspend the 2018 inter-Korean peace pact "until mutual trust between the two Koreas is restored."

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© Deutsche Welle


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