ABC: South Korea’s loudspeaker broadcasts aimed at North ‘prelude to a very dangerous situation’, Kim Jong Un’s sister warns

South Korea’s loudspeaker broadcasts aimed at North Korea include world news and K-pop hits.(Reuters: You Sung-ho, file)

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• In short: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong has warned of “new counteraction” against South Korea over loudspeaker broadcasts and the scattering of leaflets.
• South Korea resumed the broadcasts directed at North Korea as tensions increased over Pyongyang sending balloons carrying trash over the border.
• Pyongyang said the move was in retaliation for anti-North leaflets flown by South Korean activists as part of a propaganda campaign.

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has warned of a new response against South Korea if the South continues loudspeaker broadcasts and the scattering of leaflets amid simmering tensions.

“If the ROK simultaneously carries out the leaflet scattering and loudspeaker broadcasting provocation over the border, it will undoubtedly witness the new counteraction of the DPRK,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement late on Sunday carried by state news agency KCNA, using the official names of South and North Korea.

South Korea resumed loudspeaker broadcasts directed at North Korea on Sunday, its military said, following through on a warning demanding that Pyongyang stop sending balloons carrying trash into the South.

Kim Yo Jong has warned of “new counteraction” after South Korea resumed loudspeaker broadcasts directed at North Korea.(Reuters: Jorge Silva)

“This is a prelude to a very dangerous situation,” said Ms Kim, a vice department director in the ruling Workers’ Party, referring to the South’s loudspeaker broadcasts.

The decision to resume the broadcasts, as a form of psychological warfare, was made after North Korea on Saturday began launching about 330 balloons with trash attached, with about 80 of them dropping over the border, South Korea’s military said.

North Korea’s trash rains onto South Korea via hundreds of balloons. Here’s why

The balloon dropping is an old-school Cold-War style provocation that has rarely been used in recent years. 

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Pyongyang started sending balloons carrying trash and manure across the border in May. It said the move was in retaliation for anti-North leaflets flown by South Korean activists as part of a propaganda campaign.

North Korea has shown some of the angriest reactions toward the leaflet campaign and the loudspeaker broadcasts, in some cases firing weapons at the balloons and speakers.

South Korea stopped the broadcasts under an agreement signed by the two Korea’s leaders in 2018 but tensions have mounted since then as Pyongyang pushed ahead with weapons development.

South Korea’s broadcasts include world news and information about democratic and capitalist society with a mix of popular K-pop music. The sound is believed to travel more than 20 kilometres into North Korea.

Reuters

D/C: More on North Korea here: https://mark3ds.wordpress.com/?s=north+korea

Sister Kim Yo Jong seems to be gaining a lot more power.