South Korea resumed broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda through loudspeakers in retaliation for the more than 1,000 trash and manure-filled balloons the North had sent over the last couple of weeks.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 Military loudspeakers primed and ready to blare anti-Pyongyang propaganda and K-pop
00:10 music towards North Korea.
00:12 Seoul restarted the broadcasts over the weekend for the first time since 2015.
00:16 "The measures we will take may be unbearable for the North Korean regime, but they will
00:23 send a message of hope and light to the North's troops and its people."
00:27 The move can be traced to late May, when Pyongyang began sending balloons full of trash and manure
00:33 towards the South.
00:35 It says it was retaliation for balloons filled with anti-North leaflets and USBs flown by
00:40 South Korean activists.
00:42 "We once again gravely warn North Korea to immediately halt their inhuman, low-level
00:50 and nasty activity which violates the armistice agreement."
00:55 In response, South Korea suspended a 2018 pact to reduce hostile acts along the border,
01:01 allowing it to resume propaganda campaigns and possibly restart live-fire military exercises
01:07 in border areas.
01:09 South Koreans who live near the border in the town of Baju fear things could escalate
01:13 again.
01:14 "There is a sense of fear that North Korea might fire artillery towards this area and
01:20 that their shells could come flying towards this place."
01:22 Last week, North Korea did stop sending the balloons, but activists in South Korea didn't.
01:28 Pyongyang's garbage drops resumed, and now the South's loudspeakers are blaring again.
01:33 It sparked an angry warning from Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
01:38 "If the Republic of Korea simultaneously carries out the leaflet scattering and loudspeaker
01:43 broadcasting provocation over the border, it will undoubtedly witness the new counteraction
01:48 of the democratic People's Republic of Korea."
01:52 Locals in Baju are also critical of those sending balloons to the North.
01:57 "The group who send the anti-North leaflets can leave, but we are the ones who end up
02:02 dealing with the aftermath.
02:04 What residents in Baju would like such actions that escalate tensions?"
02:08 While North Korea has been firing off more ballistic missiles in recent weeks in a show
02:12 of military might, for now, there's no sign of live fire at the border, just an exchange
02:17 of trash and noise.
02:19 For more UN videos visit: www.un.org/webcast
02:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]