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SEOUL, South Korea — Military decontamination squads were in action on Sunday evening in Buahm Dong, a scenic, mountain-side Seoul neighborhood, as South Korea initiated loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts across the Demilitarized Zone and North Korea renewed its barrage of “filth balloons.”
Surprised residents found a road closed by military vehicles with flashing emergency lights. Troops in tactical hazmat gear and camouflaged face masks explained that a North Korean balloon had landed on one of the area’s coffee shops, and was being removed.
Since last month, when the North began releasing hundreds of balloons southward loaded with trash and in some cases manure, residents who come into contact with the debris have been advised to contact emergency services due to concerns of possible contamination.
Buahm Dong lies less than a mile from Gwanghwamun, the bustling center of Seoul, home to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Embassy.
A popular spot with hikers and weekend tourists for its Alpine views and many cafes, Buahm Dong is no stranger to security activity.
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In an infamous 1968 incident, a platoon of North Korean commandos tasked with assassination advanced through the area en route to the presidential Blue House. Engaged by South Korean forces in an intense, close-range firefight at the gates of the presidential manse, the commandos splintered and sought to escape.
Several were gunned down on the forested slopes, and Buahm Dong has since hosted after-dark counter-terrorism exercises, while its surrounding mountain ridges are dotted with army bases and guard posts.
Only in the last two years have nearby mountain trails been fully opened to the public.
North Korea’s “filth balloon” offensive resumed this weekend.
As many as 330 have reportedly been launched, but with changing wind conditions, only 80, including the one in Buahm Dong, have been recorded as landing in the South.
The barrage is apparently in retaliation for balloons launched by South Korean activists — some of them North Korean defectors — into the North. Those balloons are freighted with anti-regime messaging, USB sticks loaded with Kpop music and Kdramas, and in some cases, U.S. dollars – an incentive for North Korean citizens to pick them up.
The releases infuriate Pyongyang, which goes to enormous lengths to shield its populace from outside influences.
Though the southern balloons had been launched by private-sector players, not the state, Seoul officially stepped onto the retaliation ladder today.
Following a meeting by Seoul’s NSC earlier on Sunday, southern speaker systems blasted high-volume propaganda northward across the Demilitarized Zone for two hours.
The military broadcasts, dubbed “Voice of Freedom,” began with the South’s national anthem and an explanation of why Seoul was conducting renewed propaganda activities, the leading Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported.
News about global condemnation of Pyongyang’s missile programs followed, then there were segments on South Korean industrial successes and weather reports.
Kpop songs, including hits by supergroup BTS – whose members are currently engaged in mandatory military service — were also played.
“Whether or not our military conducts additional loudspeaker broadcasts against North Korea depends entirely on North Korea’s actions,” Seoul said.
No cross-border propaganda had been broadcast since 2016.
In 2018, with a pro-engagement government in power in Seoul, and amid a thaw in cross-border tensions, a bilateral tension-reduction mechanism, the “Comprehensive Military Agreement” was signed.
Among the CMA’s provisions were the dismantling of propaganda broadcasting equipment, the withdrawal of air patrols from border areas and the destruction of a handful of both sides’ military posts inside the DMZ.
However, the failure of a North Korea-U.S. summit in 2019 cooled inter-Korean relations. After the conservative Yoon Suk Yeol administration took power in 2022, relations froze further.
Both sides have accused the other of breaking CMA provisions, and Seoul’s NSC has announced the formal suspension of the agreement.
Some analysts fear that with both sides upgrading tit-for-tat actions, closed communications channels and the erosion of security “guardrails” such as the CMA mean any military confrontation could spiral swiftly out of control.
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
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