SEOUL, South Korea — The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed Sunday to respond to what she called a fresh South Korean civilian leafleting campaign, signaling North Korea could soon resume flying trash-carrying balloons across the border.
Beginning in late May, North Korea floated numerous balloons carrying waste paper, scraps of cloth, cigarette butts and even manure toward South Korea in a series of late-night launch events, saying they were a tit-for-tat action against South Korean activists scattering political leaflets via their own balloons. No hazardous materials were found.
In response, South Korea suspended a 2018 tension-reduction deal with North Korea, resuming propaganda broadcasts briefly and frontline live-fire military drills at border areas.
In a statement carried by state media, Kim Yo Jong said that “dirty leaflets and things of (the South Korean) scum” were found again in border and other areas in North Korea on Sunday morning.
“Despite the repeated warnings of (North Korea), the (South Korean) scum are not stopping this crude and dirty play,” she said.
“We have fully introduced our countermeasure in such situation. The (South Korean) clans will be tired from suffering a bitter embarrassment and must be ready for paying a very high price for their dirty play,” Kim Yo Jong said.
North Korea last sent rubbish-carrying balloons toward South Korea in late June.
It wasn’t immediately…
