South Korea Resumes Loudspeaker Propaganda Amid Escalating Tensions With North Korea

South Korea announced on Sunday that loudspeaker propaganda campaigns against North Korea would be resumed after Pyongyang sent a fresh barrage of trash-filled balloons across the border.

Relations between the two Koreas are currently at one of their lowest points in years, and in recent weeks, a tit-for-tat campaign of balloon launches has been engaged in by both sides. Analysts have warned that this escalating cycle could result in actual military skirmishes, as reported by News 18 citing AFP.

South Korea's Bold Move: Resumes Loudspeaker Propaganda

The suspension of a 2018 military agreement aimed at reducing tensions on the peninsula was decided by Seoul this month after hundreds of balloons carrying bags of garbage, including cigarette butts and plastic waste, were sent by Pyongyang. This suspension has paved the way for the resumption of the loudspeaker campaigns.

Seoul has criticized the balloon launches as "low class", but unlike Kim Jong Un's repeated ballistic missile tests, these do not violate the numerous UN sanctions imposed on the nuclear-armed North. "We will install loudspeakers against North Korea today and carry out the broadcast," stated the president's office, adding that "the responsibility for the escalation of tension between the two Koreas will be entirely up to the North," as reported by New 18.

The move was described as "corresponding measures" to the more than 300 trash-filled balloons that Pyongyang sent across the border in a new blitz that started on Saturday. "Although the measures we are taking may be difficult for the North Korean regime to endure, they will deliver messages of light and hope to the North Korean military and citizens," the statement added.

Activists in the South have floated dozens of balloons northwards bearing K-pop, dollar bills, and anti-Kim Jong Un propaganda in recent weeks, which has infuriated Pyongyang and prompted retaliatory actions. Nearly a thousand balloons were sent across the border by Pyongyang in late May and early June before the campaign was called off.

The campaign was restarted on Saturday in response to new launches by the activists last week, against which Seoul's government has almost no legal recourse. A text alert warning residents about the new balloons was sent out by the Seoul city government, as well as officials in the surrounding Gyeonggi province, on Saturday, as per media report.

"North Korea is making another low-class provocation with trash balloons against our civilian areas," wrote Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon in a Facebook post. Seoul's military has stated that an "analysis shows there were no substances that were harmful to safety" in the latest batch of balloons, which contained waste paper and plastic. However, the public has been warned to stay away and report any balloons to the authorities.

The decision to resume the loudspeaker broadcasts by Seoul could have serious implications, experts have said, as previous propaganda tit-for-tats have had real-world consequences for inter-Korean relations. The loudspeaker broadcasts, a tactic dating back to the 1950-1953 Korean War, have infuriated Pyongyang in the past, which has previously threatened artillery strikes against the loudspeaker units unless they were switched off.

"There is a high possibility the resuming of speakers could lead to an armed conflict," said Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Korean Peninsula strategy at Sejong Institute. "With the resuming of the speakers, North Korea will not stay put. It is likely that North Korea will resume firing in the West Sea or fire at the balloons if the South sends any again," Cheong added.

"North Korea has been jamming GPS signals for several days last week, and it is likely for this kind of provocation to appear in a much stronger form in the West Sea as well." In 2018, during a period of improved inter-Korean relations, the leaders of the two Koreas agreed to "completely cease all hostile acts," including the cessation of leaflet campaigns.

A law criminalizing the act of sending leaflets to the North was passed by the South Korean parliament in 2020, but the activists did not stop, and the law was struck down by the Constitutional Court last year as an undue limitation on free speech.

The opposition Democratic Party has criticized the government for not doing more to stop the activists' balloons, with a spokesperson saying at a Sunday briefing that "'freedom of expression' is being used as an excuse to jeopardize the safety of our people."

They also stated that the resumption of the loudspeaker campaigns was not wise, adding that "the government's move poses a risk of escalating into a regional war."