This photo provided by South Korea’s Defense Ministry shows a balloon filled with garbage that may have been sent by North Korea on Wednesday in Chungcheongnam Province, South Korea.
Associated Press/South Korean Ministry of National Defense
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Associated Press/South Korean Ministry of National Defense
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea launched hundreds of garbage-laden balloons into South Korea in one of its most bizarre provocations against its rival in years, prompting the South Korean military to mobilize chemical and explosive response teams to recover objects in different parts of the country. and fragments.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has urged his military scientists to overcome satellite launch failures and continue developing space-based reconnaissance capabilities, state media said on Wednesday, which he said was crucial to countering the military activities of the United States and South Korea.
In his first public comments on the launch failure, Kim also warned that South Korea would take “severe” action over a drill involving 20 fighter jets near the North-South Korean border, hours before Monday’s failed launch. North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said on Wednesday that Kim Jong Un called South Korea’s response “hysterical madness” and “a very dangerous provocation that cannot be ignored” in a speech on Tuesday.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea has also been launching large numbers of garbage-laden balloons into South Korea since Tuesday night, in apparent retaliation for anti-North Korean missiles flown by South Korean activists and amid tensions between the war-divided rivals. Another sign of.
South Korea’s military said about 260 North Korean balloons had been found across the country as of Wednesday afternoon and were being recovered by military rapid response and explosive ordnance clearance teams. It advised civilians not to touch objects airlifted from North Korea and to report any sightings to the military or police.
Photos released by the military showed rubbish strewn on highways and roads in different parts of the country. In the capital Seoul, military officials discovered what appeared to be a timer, likely designed to pop garbage bags in the air. In the middle of Chungcheongnam-do, someone saw two huge balloons on the road, containing an unexploded plastic bag filled with a soil-like substance.
There were no immediate reports of damage caused by the balloon. In 2016, a similar North Korean balloon campaign damaged cars and other property.
North Korea’s Deputy Defense Minister Kim Kang-il said in a statement over the weekend that the North planned to spread “piles of waste paper and filth” across the border and other parts of South Korea, in what he called a “tit-for-tat” approach. Operation “tat” to distribute leaflets.
Kim’s comments about the satellite came during a speech at the North Korean Academy of Defense Sciences, a day after a rocket carrying North Korea’s second military reconnaissance satellite exploded shortly after liftoff. North Korea’s Aerospace Technology Administration said the explosion may be related to the reliability of a newly developed rocket engine that runs on petroleum and uses liquid oxygen as an oxidizer.
Hostility between North and South Korea has reached its worst level in years since 2022, as Kim Jong Un’s weapons displays and South Korea’s joint military exercises with the United States and Japan have intensified.
The satellite launch failure is a setback for Kim Jong Un’s plan to launch three more military spy satellites in 2024 after North Korea put its first military reconnaissance satellite into orbit last November. The November launch came after two failed attempts.
Monday’s launch drew criticism from South Korea, Japan and the United States, as the United Nations bans North Korea from conducting any such rocket launches, viewing them as a cover for testing long-range missile technology.
North Korea has steadfastly maintained that it has the right to launch satellites and test missiles in the face of what it sees as a U.S.-led military threat. Kim Jong Un says spy satellites are crucial to monitoring U.S. and South Korean military activities and enhancing the threat posed by their nuclear missiles.
Kim Jong-un said: “In the face of serious changes in our country’s security environment brought about by U.S. military exercises and various provocative behaviors, the purchase of military reconnaissance satellites is an important task for our country to further strengthen self-defense and deterrence.”
North Korea has yet to comment on when it will be ready to attempt another satellite launch, with some experts saying it could take months.
Some South Korean experts say state media’s mention of liquid oxygen petroleum rocket engines shows North Korea is trying to develop more powerful space launch vehicles that can handle larger payloads.
North Korea’s previous space rockets are believed to have used asymmetric dimethylhydrazine as fuel and dinitrogen tetroxide as the oxidizer. Jang Young-geun, a missile expert at South Korea’s Institute for National Strategic Studies, said South Korea’s rapid shift in space rocket design may indicate the need for outside technical help, which is likely to come from Russia.
Kim has been raising the profile of his relationship with Russia in recent months, highlighted by a September summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin as they align themselves in their respective confrontations with Washington. The meeting between Kim Jong Un and Putin took place at a spaceport in Russia’s Far East, following successive failed attempts by North Korea to launch its first spy satellite. Putin later told Russian reporters that Moscow was willing to help North Korea build satellites.
The United States and South Korea also accuse North Korea of supplying Russia with artillery shells, missiles and other military equipment to help prolong the fighting in Ukraine.
