A version of this story appeared in the daily Threat Status newsletter from The Washington Times. Click here to receive Threat Status delivered directly to your inbox each weekday.
A version of this article appeared in the daily Threat Status newsletter from The Washington Times. Click here to receive Threat Status delivered directly to your inbox each weekday.
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea, long a master of trash-talking, is following through with a literal trash attack.
Some 260 “filth balloons” from North Korea floated across the Demilitarized Zone into South Korea from late Tuesday night to 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 greenhouse 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.”
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Residents have been warned via smartphone text alerts not to touch anything that lands and to report the debris to authorities. Biological and chemical warfare response teams were dispatched nationwide.
Also Wednesday, North Korea attempted to jam military GPS signals off South Korea’s northwestern Yellow Sea coast.
The moves appear to be retaliation for activists’ releases of balloons carrying anti-regime messaging northward over the DMZ.
Those releases, often including data sticks containing news reports, K-pop and K-dramas, have long infuriated Pyongyang. On Sunday, the North warned it would retaliate with “trash and filth.”
From 2016 through 2018, Pyongyang released balloons over the DMZ to drop leaflets and crude cartoons with anti-Seoul messaging.
As deadly conflicts rage in the Gaza Strip, Ukraine and elsewhere, balloons floating over the flash-point peninsula appear reassuringly innocuous.
They follow Pyongyang’s failed spy satellite launch this week 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.
China has released high-altitude weather balloons over Taiwan and the United States. Some experts consider the tactic to be a probe. In 2023, an F-22 fighter downed a Chinese balloon with a missile.
The lack of kinetic action on the Korean Peninsula has focused analyses on messaging rather than balloons.
In January, North Korea overturned its policy line of peacefully reunifying with South Korea, implying that any war would 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,” said Mr. Zwetsloot, a longtime student of North Korea’s populist propaganda materials.
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. troops.
Their penetration of air defenses and airspace 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.
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