North Korea said it will stop sending balloons carrying trash over the border into South Korea on Jun. 2, 2024.

Sent 3,500 balloons carrying 15 tonnes of trash

State media outlet Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) cited the North's vice-minister of defence Kim Kang Il saying, "We have given the South Koreans a full experience of how disgusting and labour-intensive it is to collect scattered waste paper."

After reportedly using thousands of "devices" to send 3,500 balloons carrying 15 tonnes of trash, including cigarette butts and animal excrement, North Korea's announcement comes too little, too late.

Enough is enough

South Korea has apparently had enough, announcing on Jun. 3 that it plans to suspend, in its entirety, the military agreement it established with North Korea in 2018 to ease tensions then.

Suspending the pact essentially allows the South to conduct training near the military border and take "sufficient and immediate measures" in response to North Korea's provocation, if its cabinet approves that is.

South Korea's National Security Council said it would raise the plan to suspend the military agreement to the cabinet on Jun. 4, Reuters reported,

What happened

South Korea detected around 260 balloons on May 29, with the furthest reported sighting in the city of Geochang, which is over 200km from North Korea's borders.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that was the most number of balloons North Korea has sent into their territory.

North Korea apparently continued sending trash-carrying balloons in the days after and there were sightings on Jun. 1 and 2, according to Reuters.

The North sent these "sincere gifts" in retaliation to balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets sent by activists in the South, some of whom have defected from the North.

Calling the North's actions "irrational" and "low-class", South Korea on Jun. 1 warned its neighbour that it would take strong and "unendurable" countermeasures should the North continue sending balloons, AFP reported.

This includes blaring propaganda from loudspeakers directed at the North, a practice from the past that has angered the North.

South Korea's warning apparently did not fall on deaf ears as North Korea subsequently said it will now "temporarily suspend" its "pure countermeasure".

However, the North sent its own warning.

"However, if the South Koreans resume the distribution of anti-DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) leaflets, we will respond by scattering one hundred times the amount of waste paper and filth, as we have already warned, in proportion to the detected quantity and frequency."

Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, mocked South Korea for complaining about the balloons this week, saying North Koreans were simply exercising their freedom of expression.

South Korea, however, apparently begged to differ, rejecting the North's claim that it was done to inconvenience them and calling it a provocation.

Top image from X, formerly Twitter