A totally botched propaganda offensive

Kim Yeoul-soo
The author is head of the Security Strategy Office of the Korea Institutefor Military Affairs.

North Korea on Sunday announced it will temporarily stop sending balloons carrying rubbish and excrement to South Korea. Vice Defense Minister Kim Kang-il said, “North Korea already flew 3,500 balloons filled with 15 tons of waste and feces across the border.” The announcement translates into a conditional suspension of the filthy scheme. As the South Korean military have collected approximately 1,000 balloons, 2,500 may have landed in North Korea or the country may have exaggerated the number intentionally.

North Korea claimed that it sent the balloons in reaction to South Korean civic groups’ dispatch of 20 balloons packed with propaganda leaflets and USBs containing K-pop songs and other cultural materials. If the claim is true, the North sent 150 times more balloons than what was sent from the South. North Korea says it will suspend the dirty campaign until South Korea sends balloons to the North again.

But Pyongyang’s abrupt announcement probably stemmed from Seoul’s stern warning against the extraordinary trick. In an expanded National Security Council meeting on Sunday, National Security Advisor Chang Ho-jin warned that South Korea will take “a measure North Korea cannot bear,” which refers to the reactivation of loudspeakers targeting North Korean soldiers and residents on the border.

The South’s propaganda broadcast is the North’s Achilles heel, as its soldiers on the frontline can have access to not only international news but also domestic news about the two countries. They can even learn the truth about the Kim family. Some North Korean soldiers are even humming the tunes of K-pop or trot songs.

To effectively block South Korean culture from flowing into the North, the Kim Jong-un regime has started a methodical crackdown on it by enacting three draconian laws against the inflow. If the loudspeakers are turned on again, it can create critical schisms in Kim’s dictatorship, a primary reason for Pyongyang to suddenly announce a suspension of the balloon dispatch.

To resume the loudspeaker broadcasts, our government has suspended the effectiveness of the September 19 military agreement in 2018 between South and North Korea in Pyongyang. In a Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo criticized North Korea for “posing a great threat to the safety of our people and undermining peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

Earlier, the government suspended the effectiveness of some articles of the agreement in reaction to the North’s launch of a military reconnaissance satellite last November. Pyongyang then declared a complete revocation of the 2018 military agreement and deployed soldiers to guard posts on the frontline.

Seoul’s decision to suspend the effectiveness of the agreement will not clash with the 2018 Panmunjom Declaration between Kim Jong-un and President Moon Jae-in or the 2023 Inter-Korean Relations Promotion Act. The first was not endorsed by the National Assembly nor approved in a Cabinet meeting. The second also cannot be a major hurdle. Article 34 of the act bans loudspeaker broadcasts and the posting of sensitive images. But Clause 2 of Article 23 of the same act allows a suspension of all or parts of the military agreement if a serious change occurs in inter-Korean relations or if there is a need for suspension to protect national security, social order or public welfare.

North Korea may have enjoyed a fleeting moment of joy after flying filthy balloons across the border. But the propaganda totally failed as South Koreans came to harbor even stronger animosity toward the North. The country added another dishonorable title — “the manure spreader” — to its previous image as a rogue state.

The North’s act of sending dirty balloons constitutes a clear violation of the 1953 Armistice and international law. If it sends nasty balloons to the South again, the government must resume its loudspeaker broadcasts across the border. If necessary, it must consider the idea of sending leaflets to the North on a government level.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.