700 balloons later, North Korea says it’ll stop sending trash to South Korea

globalnews.ca:

North Korea announced it will stop sending balloons carrying trash and manure across the border, hours after South Korea warned its northern neighbour on Sunday that it would unleash “unbearable” retaliatory measures.

However, it seems that the end to the balloon campaign is still not been enough to cool tensions between the two nations, as South Korea announced Monday that it will suspend a 2018 military agreement signed with North Korea.

The bizarre balloon conflict between the two countries began last week, when hundreds of North Korean balloons rained trash and feces over South Korea, particularly in border areas.

Photos released by the military last week showed some still-intact white balloons with trash bags attached to them while others showed scattered pieces of plastic and paper on city streets. Apart from the trash, the South Korean military says manure and animal feces were also carried by some of the balloons.

Last Wednesday, the South Korean military reported that some 260 balloons had been found in various parts of the country. By Sunday, more than 700 balloons have been found.

South Korea’s national security director Chang Ho-jin said Sunday that North Korea was attempting to provoke “public anxieties and chaos” in South Korea by sending the balloons, and he also accused the authoritarian state of jamming GPS navigation signals.

Chang promised that South Korea would respond to North Korea’s “absurd, irrational acts of provocation” with “unbearable” retaliatory measures.

Observers say South Korea will likely restart front-line loudspeaker broadcasts into North Korea that include criticism of its abysmal human rights situation, world news and K-pop songs. North Korea is extremely sensitive to such broadcasts