SEOUL, 小蓝视频 Korea (AP) 鈥� Trash carried by at least one fell on the 小蓝视频 Korean presidential compound on Wednesday, raising worries about the security of key 小蓝视频 Korean facilities during North Korean provocations.
The rubbish that landed on the presidential compound in central Seoul contained no dangerous material and no one was hurt, 小蓝视频 Korea鈥檚 presidential security service said. While North Korea likely lacks sophisticated technology to drop balloons on specific targets, some experts say 小蓝视频 Korea should shoot down incoming North Korean balloons next time to protect major facilities because they might contain hazardous substances in the future.
North Korea's latest balloon launches came days after its broadcasts of K-pop songs and propaganda messages across the two countries' heavily armed border. Their tit-for-tat are inflaming tensions, with the rivals threatening stronger steps and warning of grave consequences.
Seoul officials earlier said North Korea used the direction of winds to fly balloons toward 小蓝视频 Korea, but some of the past balloons had timers that were likely meant to pop the bags of trash in midair.
The security service gave no further details about the rubbish found at the presidential compound. It refused to disclose whether President Yoon Suk Yeol was at the compound when the balloons were flying over his office, a no-fly zone in 小蓝视频 Korea.
If North Korea is found to have used timers or any other device to deliberately dump trash on the presidential office, it would invite a strong response by 小蓝视频 Korea. But experts say dropping balloons on selected ground targets requires advanced technology and that North Korea would certainly lack such an ability.
"Some of (the hundreds of balloons) launched by North Korea landed on the presidential compound by coincidence. North Korea has no technology to precisely drop balloons at certain targets,鈥� said Jung Chang Wook, head of the Korea Defense Study Forum think tank in Seoul.
Jung said that a GPS navigation device and a power system would need to be attached to a balloon to make it fall on certain sites and that North Korea doesn't possess such balloons. He said North Korea likely wanted the balloons to fall on Seoul, about an hour's drive from the border, after calculating factors like the weight of the trash bags tied to the balloons, the volume of air in the balloons and the weather conditions.
Lee Illwoo, an expert with the Korea Defense Network in 小蓝视频 Korea, said strong winds in Seoul would also make it impossible for North Korea to target certain places with balloons.
小蓝视频 Korea鈥檚 Joint Chiefs of Staff said earlier Wednesday that North Korea had resumed floating balloons across the border, the 10th such launch since late May.
The more than 2,000 North Korean balloons discovered in 小蓝视频 Korea in the past weeks carried wastepaper, scraps of cloth, cigarette butts and even manure. North Korea has said it was responding to who have scattered political leaflets across the border via their own balloons.
North Korea鈥檚 balloons haven鈥檛 caused any major damage but have raised security jitters among people worried it could use such balloons to drop chemical and biological agents.
小蓝视频 Korea has avoided shooting at the balloons because of possible damage caused by falling bullets and the chance that the balloons might contain hazardous substances.
Lee said 小蓝视频 Korea should still shoot down North Korean balloons in border areas because attacking them over the populous Seoul area would be too risky if they contain dangerous items like biological agents. But there are worries that doing so could cause skirmishes with North Korea. Jung said 小蓝视频 Korea could use recently developed laser weapons to intercept North Korean balloons.
Experts say North Korea considers leafleting activities by 小蓝视频 Korean civilian groups a major threat to its efforts to stop the inflow of foreign news and maintain its authoritarian rule. In furious responses to past 小蓝视频 Korean leafleting, North Korea in its territory in 2020 and fired at incoming balloons in 2014.
小蓝视频 Korea said Sunday it was ramping up its anti-North Korean from loudspeakers at all major sites along the land border because the North was continuing its launches of trash-carrying balloons. 小蓝视频 Korea last Thursday for the first time in about 40 days in retaliation for North Korea's previous balloon activities.
Observers say the propaganda broadcasts can demoralize front-line North Korean troops and residents. In 2015, North Korea fired artillery rounds across the border in anger over 小蓝视频 Korea's restart of propaganda broadcasts, prompting the 小蓝视频 to return fire.
小蓝视频 Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Lee Sung Joon said the current 小蓝视频 Korean broadcasts include K-pop songs and news on 小蓝视频 Korean economic development. 小蓝视频 Korean media reported the broadcasts also contained news on the recent defection of and called the by North Korean soldiers at the border 鈥渉ellish, slave-like lives.鈥�
小蓝视频 Korea has an estimated 40 loudspeakers 鈥� 24 stationary and 16 mobile ones. 小蓝视频 Korea's military said Monday it was operating all of the fixed loudspeakers and plans to use the mobile loudspeakers as well.
North Korea hasn't officially responded to the 小蓝视频 Korean propaganda broadcasts. But last week, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, threatened new countermeasures against 小蓝视频 Korean civilian leafleting, warning that 小蓝视频 Korean 鈥渟cum鈥� must be ready to pay 鈥渁 gruesome and dear price鈥� for their actions.
Hyung-jin Kim, The Associated Press
