South Korea to play ‘full-scale’ loudspeaker broadcasts in response to North Korea’s trash balloons

North Korea on Sunday sent a new batch of balloons likely carrying trash toward South Korea, which vowed to play “full-scale” loudspeaker broadcasts in response.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the balloons crossed the border on Sunday morning and flew north of Seoul, the South Korean capital, the Associated Press reported.

The military said it would expand loudspeaker broadcasts at all major sections of the 154-mile-long border between the Koreas, the news wire added.

“The North Korean military’s tension-escalating acts can result in causing critical consequences for it,” the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, per the AP. “The responsibility for this kind of situation is entirely on North Korea’s government.”

The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the loudspeaker broadcasts were expected to begin at 1 p.m. local time Sunday. The broadcasts played K-pop songs and news stories, South Korean state media Yonhap reported.

The move comes days after South Korea resumed frontline propaganda broadcasts for the first time in 40 days to respond to North Korea’s previous balloon launches, the AP added.

North Korea began floating trash-carrying balloons in late May, deepening already tense relations with South Korea. Trash balloons in previous launches have not carried dangerous substances, but have included cigarette butts, wastepaper, vinyl and plastic bags. 

South Korea temporarily turned on its loudspeakers along the border in early June in response to the first waves of balloon launches.

The initial launches were an apparent response to a campaign organized by South Korean activists and North Korean defectors who have launched balloons with anti-North Korea leaflets and other items, the AP reported.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, warned last week the South Korean “scum” should be prepared to pay “a gruesome and dear price” for the leaflet activities, the AP added.

The loudspeaker blasts were previously stopped in 2018 after a rare meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Reuters reported.

Experts told the AP the propaganda broadcasts can demoralize frontline North Korean troops and residents while working directly against the North’s attempts to limit access to external news.

The Associated Press contributed.