North Korea flies hundreds of balloons full of trash over South Korea

North Korea launched hundreds of garbage-carrying balloons toward South Korea in one of its most bizarre provocations against its rival in years, prompting the South’s military to mobilize chemical and explosive response teams to recover objects and debris. in different parts of the country.

The escalating campaign came as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged his military scientists to overcome a satellite launch failure and continue to develop space-based reconnaissance capabilities, which he described as crucial to countering US and South Korean military activities, state media reported on Wednesday.

In his first public comments on the failed launch, Kim also warned of unspecified “severe” action against South Korea over an exercise involving 20 fighter jets near the inter-Korean border hours earlier. North KoreaThe launch failed on Monday. In a speech on Tuesday, Kim called the South Korean response “hysterical insanity” and “a very dangerous provocation that cannot be ignored,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said on Wednesday.

In another sign of tensions between the war-torn rivals, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea has also flown a large number of balloons carrying trash toward the South since Tuesday night, in an apparent retaliation against South Korean activists for flying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the border.

The South’s military said about 260 North Korean balloons were found in various parts of the country on Wednesday afternoon and were being recovered by military rapid response and explosives clearance teams. It advised civilians not to touch objects transported from North Korea and to report them to the military or police after discovering them.

Photos released by the military showed garbage scattered across highways and roads in different parts of the country. In the capital, Seoul, military officers found what appeared to be a timer that was likely designed to burst trash bags into the air. In the southern central province of Chungcheong, two huge balloons carrying a plastic bag filled with dirt-like substances were spotted on a road.

There were no immediate reports of damage from the balloons. Similar North Korean balloon activity damaged cars and other property in 2016.

In a statement released over the weekend, North Korean Vice Defense Minister Kim Kang Il said the North was planning to spread “heaps of trash and filth” over border areas and other parts of South Korea, which he described it as an “eye-opener” against leafleting by South Korean activists.

Local media reports said some balloons also carried toilet paper and suspected animal feces to the South, according to Agence France-Presse.

Kim Jong Un’s comments about the satellite came from a speech at the Northern Defense Science Academy, which he visited a day after a rocket carrying what would have been his country’s second military reconnaissance satellite exploded shortly after takeoff. North Korea’s Aerospace Technology Administration said the explosion was possibly related to the reliability of a newly developed rocket engine that is fueled by petroleum and uses liquid oxygen as an oxidizer.

Animosities between the Koreas are at their worst level in years as the pace of Kim’s weapons demonstrations and South Korea’s combined military exercises with the US and Japan have intensified since 2022.

The failed satellite launch was a setback to Kim’s plan to launch three more military spy satellites in 2024, after North Korea’s first military reconnaissance satellite was placed into orbit last November. The November launch followed two failed attempts.

Monday’s launch drew criticism from South Korea, Japan and the United States because the United Nations prohibits North Korea from carrying out such rocket launches, considering them a cover for testing long-range missile technology. .

North Korea has firmly asserted that it has the right to launch satellites and test missiles in the face of what it considers to be US-led military threats. Kim described the spy satellites as crucial to monitoring US and South Korean military activities and increasing the threat posed by their nuclear-capable missiles.

“The acquisition of military reconnaissance satellites is an essential task for our country to further strengthen our self-defense deterrence…in the face of serious changes to our nation’s security environment caused by U.S. military maneuvers and various provocative acts,” Kim said.

North Korea has not commented on when it will be ready to attempt a satellite launch again, which some experts say could take months.

State media’s mention of a petroleum-liquid oxygen rocket engine suggests the North is trying to develop a more powerful space launch vehicle that can handle larger payloads, according to some South Korean experts.

North Korea’s previous space rockets are believed to have used asymmetric dimethylhydrazine as a fuel and dinitrogen tetroxide as an oxidant. The country’s rapid transition into space rocket projects possibly indicates foreign technological help, which would likely come from Russia, said Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at South Korea’s Research Institute for National Strategy.

Kim has raised the profile of his ties with Russia in recent months, highlighted by a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September as they align over their separate clashes with Washington. Kim’s meeting with Putin was held at a spaceport in the Russian Far East and came after North Korea’s consecutive failures in its attempts to launch its first spy satellite. Putin then told Russian reporters that Moscow was willing to help the North build satellites.

The US and South Korea have also accused North Korea of ​​supplying Russia with artillery shells, missiles and other military equipment to help prolong its fighting in Ukraine.