SEOUL, South Korea – Tensions rise between North and South Korea as Seoul announces the resumption of anti-North Korean propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts along the border. This decision comes after North Korea sent over 1000 balloons filled with trash and manure into South Korean territory.

South Korean officials, following an emergency security meeting, expressed their disapproval of North Korea’s actions, accusing them of causing disruption and anxiety. They emphasized that North Korea would bear sole responsibility for any escalation of tensions between the two Koreas.

The North justified its balloon campaign as a response to South Korean activists sending anti-North Korean leaflets, USB sticks with South Korean music and dramas, which they believe could negatively impact front-line troops and residents, potentially weakening leader Kim Jong Un’s grip on power.

With the resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts, South Korea may broadcast anti-Pyongyang messages, K-pop songs, and outside news to the heavily armed border where the countries stand divided by their differing ideologies.

In 2015, the last time South Korea broadcasted messages via loudspeakers, North Korea responded with artillery rounds fired across the border. This led to a brief exchange of fire between the two countries. Last week’s incident involving trash-filled balloons also prompted South Korea to suspend a 2018 agreement with North Korea, allowing for the resumption of propaganda campaigns and possibly live-fire military exercises near the border.

South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik urged military commanders to be prepared for potential retaliation from North Korea in response to the loudspeaker broadcasts. The South’s military detected hundreds of balloons launched by the North into South Korean territory, containing trash like plastic and paper waste, but no hazardous materials were found.

Critics argue that the North’s balloon campaign is aimed at dividing South Korea over its government’s approach to North Korea. South Korean activists, despite warnings from North Korea, continue to fly balloons with anti-North Korean leaflets, songs, and dramas, further escalating tensions between the two nations.

North Korea’s intensified efforts to eliminate South Korean cultural influences and rewrite its constitution to solidify the South as a permanent enemy suggest a shift in the country’s approach towards its southern neighbor.

Despite calls from liberal lawmakers and civic groups in South Korea to cease leafleting activities to avoid clashes with North Korea, the government refrains from intervening due to a constitutional court ruling that upholds the right to free speech, even if it involves anti-North Korean propaganda dissemination.