Military: "Anti-North Leaflet Balloons Cross North Korean Airspace... No Unusual Activity Yet"

Ministry of Unification: "Cooperation Among Related Agencies... Will Do Our Best to Manage the Situation"

A defector group released 'balloons carrying leaflets for North Korea' in the early morning of the 6th near the border area of Gyeonggi Province, and it has been confirmed that our military detected balloons carrying leaflets crossing into North Korean airspace.

According to a military source, our military spotted balloons released by the defector group. It is reported that some of these balloons flew into North Korean airspace.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

However, the exact number of balloons that entered North Korean airspace is unknown. According to the source, there are no signs yet of North Korea responding with dirty balloons or ballistic missile launches. It is also reported that there have been no GPS jamming attacks.

An official from the Ministry of Unification stated regarding the defector group's leaflet release, "We are maintaining close cooperation among related agencies and doing our best to manage the situation." However, the official reaffirmed the government's existing stance, saying, "The issue of leaflet release is being approached in consideration of the Constitutional Court's decision last September, which guarantees freedom of expression."

Earlier, Park Sang-hak, the representative of the defector group Free North Korea Movement Alliance, announced that he released 200,000 leaflets for North Korea using 10 advertising balloons early that day. The military identified that the balloons were released from a point in northern Gyeonggi Province and reportedly detected about 10 balloons.

Previously, on the 26th of last month, North Korea threatened that "numerous pieces of toilet paper and dirty objects will soon be released near the South Korean border area and deep inside," and from two days later, they sent nearly 1,000 dirty balloons to the South while conducting complex provocations such as GPS jamming attacks.

However, right after the government warned it would respond with "measures that are hard to tolerate," North Korea issued a statement on the 2nd under the name of Kim Kang-il, Vice Minister of the Ministry of National Defense, declaring a temporary suspension of dirty balloon releases and conditionally threatening, "If South Korea resumes anti-republic leaflets, we will again intensively release a hundredfold amount of toilet paper and dirty objects depending on the quantity and number found."

A Joint Chiefs of Staff official said, "We are closely monitoring signs of North Korean provocations at present."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.