North Korea launched hundreds of balloons filled with debris toward South Korea this week, in a grotesque new chapter in the propaganda war that both sides have waged for more than six decades.
Plastic bags full of garbage and waste carried by the wind in about 260 balloons appeared in South Korean territory on Tuesday, prompting authorities to ask residents of affected areas to stay at home.
This occurred after North Korea warned of retaliation in response to the distribution of leaflets with political propaganda against the Kim Jong-un regime that South Korean non-governmental organizations frequently send, also via balloons, to the North.
After angry protests from Seoul, Kim Yo-jong, sister of leader Kim Jong-un and considered one of the most influential figures in the North Korean regime, responded ironically by describing their launches as “sincere gifts” to the South protected by “freedom of expression.”
In any case, the “balloon war” or “pamphlet war” between the two Koreas is not something new.
South Korean authorities have warned residents to avoid going outdoors and not touching any “unidentified objects.”
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2.8 billion war pamphlets
Sending hostile content via balloons is part of the long confrontation between the communist North and the capitalist South since the Korean War (1950-53).
That war concluded with an armistice that has never been replaced by a definitive peace treaty, which is why both countries remain in a technical state of war to this day.
In this situation, the two Koreas have resorted to various tactics to provoke instability or incite subversion in the enemy country, including the launching of balloons with all kinds of contents taking advantage of the changing winds across the border that separates them at the 38th parallel.
These contents usually include brochures known as pyre in Korean, and the first ones date back to the Korean War.
The “pamphlet war” began in the middle of the armed conflict, when United Nations forces (fighting led by the US on the side of South Korea) launched leaflets at the North as a psychological combat strategy.
North Korea, for its part, also sent propaganda literature aimed at UN forces.
A leaflet from North Korea urging South Korean soldiers to surrender during the Korean War.
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When the armistice agreement was signed on July 27, 1953, a total of 2.8 billion pamphlets launched by various means, not only by balloons but also by war aircraft.
Of these, 2.5 billion were distributed by South Korea and UN forces, while North Korea and the Soviet Union sent 300 million.
The avalanche of papers was of such magnitude that could cover the entire Korean peninsula more than 20 times.
Most of the pamphlets were brightly colored, especially red, to attract the eye.
They mainly contained messages urging surrender, although some also included “security certificates”, promising protection to the citizens who owned them.
North Korea sent this form to the South and called it “Security Guarantee Certificate of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”
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Among the printed materials on the communist side, one stood out aimed at the African-American soldiers of the UN forces led by the United States, which encouraged them not to die in vain while they were being discriminated against compared to their white counterparts.
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Propaganda messages after the war
The distribution of pamphlets continued even after the armistice agreement that ended hostilities between the two sides in 1953.
They were full of texts with criticism of leaders and governments of the enemy country.
Between 1960 and 1970, North Korean prints highlighted Pyongyang’s development and promoted the achievements of President Kim Il-sung.
In the 1970s, North Korean pamphlets promised “soldiers coming to the North” multiple benefits, including “guaranteed rights and freedoms, job placement, free allocation of luxury housing, a subsistence salary, and cash rewards.”
At that time, North Korea’s economic conditions were not that far from those of the South, and it was even believed in certain circles that they were better, which motivated some South Koreans to defect after reading the pamphlets.
Until the 1980s, it was common for South Korean students to collect forms sent by North Korea, since if they took them to schools or police stations They received rewards such as pens, notebooks and other school supplies.
South Korea used tactics similar to those of the North in the 1980s: in the photo, a well-known model and promises of rewards for those who reach Seoul from the enemy country.
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Government offices even published notices offering rewards for turning in spies or collecting anti-South Korea leaflets.
As the economic gap between the two countries widened, the South Korean government began using this situation in its pamphlets against North Korea.
During the 1988 Seoul Olympics he used slogans such as “Wouldn’t you like to eat your fill?” to try to influence North Korean public opinion.
South Korean propaganda promoting the participation of communist countries in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
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This North Korean pamphlet shows a popular character from a South Korean soap opera, used to criticize Seoul’s politics.
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The pause
Following the signing of the 1991 Inter-Korean Basic Agreement and the 2000 Inter-Korean Agreement on the Cessation of Hostile Acts, both North and South Korea officially ceased their leaflet distribution activities.
In 2007, the South Korean police abolished regulations on the collection and handling of North Korean propaganda materials, ending rewards for delivering said items.
But while the distribution of government-sponsored libels ceased, the “pamphlet war” was far from over.
As relations between North and South deteriorated during the administration of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak (2008-13), tensions and psychological warfare returned.
And, once again, the leaflets flew over the two Koreas.
More than pamphlets
Since the first decade of the new century, private civil organizations in South Korea have launched balloons with propaganda against the Kim Jong-un regime towards North Korea.
They also include other items in their shipments such as instant noodles, candy bars, or dollar bills United States.
Propaganda balloon launches to the North increased significantly after the South Korean military ship Cheonan sank in 2010, leaving 46 dead, due to the impact of a torpedo that Seoul attributed to Pyongyang.
Following North Korea’s fourth nuclear test in January 2016, the conservative Park Geun-hye administration (2013-17) in South Korea resumed propaganda broadcasts to North Korea via loudspeakers.
These consisted of installing giant speakers next to the border to transmit to the neighboring country at full volume information about human rights abuses by the Kim Jong-un regime or popular music by Korean idols, among other content.
In response, the North Korean government again sent leaflets to South Korea, generally criticizing US policy toward North Korea, the alliance between the North American country and its South Korean partner, and the political situation in the middle capitalist of the peninsula.
North Korean pamph
let criticizing US President Donald Trump.
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After years of high tensions, the then president of South Korea, Moon Jae-in (2017-22), and the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, announced the Panmunjom Declaration on April 27, 2018.
Both leaders agreed to “cease all hostile acts, including loudspeaker broadcasts and the distribution of leaflets, along the Military Demarcation Line (the border) as of May 1.”
Despite this, South Korean NGOs – many of them integrated or led by refugees who fled from the North – they continued throwing leaflets to the neighboring country.
Already then Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un’s sister, warned that if the South Korean government did not put an end to “garbage” shipments, inter-Korean relations would deteriorate even further.
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