North Korea
North Korea Sent Excrement Balloons. South Korea’s Response: Blasting BTS Hits.
The tit-for-tat shows how the two Koreas express their displeasure without military strikes
By The Wall Street Journal Jun 18, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
3
Min read
Most Read
Macquarie eyes its 1st Korean data center valued around $722 mn
![close](/images/ico/eyes/close.png)
![open](/images/ico/eyes/open.png)
S.Korea's LS Materials set to boost earnings ahead of IPO process
![close](/images/ico/eyes/close.png)
![open](/images/ico/eyes/open.png)
SK Inc. in talks to sell Pharmteco’s US CDMO plant to Novo Nordisk
![close](/images/ico/eyes/close.png)
![open](/images/ico/eyes/open.png)
KAI inks $1.4 bn supersonic fighter jet mass production deal
![close](/images/ico/eyes/close.png)
![open](/images/ico/eyes/open.png)
Affirma Capital seeks to sell entire stake in both SeAH FS, S&G Holdings
![close](/images/ico/eyes/close.png)
![open](/images/ico/eyes/open.png)
![A military vehicle stood near the border in Paju, South Korea, a day after the country blared out a local radio program. YONHAP/SHUTTERSTOCK](https://www.kedglobal.com/data/ked/image/2024/06/18/ked202406180033.700x.0.jpg)
For two hours on Sunday, a South Korean loudspeaker near the two countries’ border played a local radio program called “Voice of Freedom,” run by the Seoul military’s psychological warfare unit. North Korean soldiers and border residents would have been within earshot.
The broadcast began with the South Korean national anthem. A news anchor delivered reports that the U.S., South Korea and Japan had condemned the Kim regime’s missile tests and military cooperation with Russia. And then there was K-pop.
![The Kim regime flew into South Korea more than a thousand massive balloons carrying bags of trash and excrement. PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS](https://www.kedglobal.com/data/ked/image/2024/06/18/ked202406180034.700x.0.jpg)
![South Korean soldiers install a loudspeaker near the border in Paju, South Korea. PHOTO: DEFENSE MINISTRY/ZUMA PRESS](https://www.kedglobal.com/data/ked/image/2024/06/18/ked202406180036.700x.0.jpg)
“So watch me bring the fire,” the song’s lyrics go, “and set the night alight.”
The two Koreas—which technically remain at war with one another—have embarked in a bizarre tit-for-tat showdown. Neither Pyongyang nor Seoul have expressed a clear-cut desire for actual fighting. But with tensions simmering, the two countries are left with limited ways to express their mutual discontent.
![BTS is a seven-member band whose fans worldwide officially dub themselves the ‘ARMY.’ PHOTO: YONHAP NEWS/ZUMA PRESS](https://www.kedglobal.com/data/ked/image/2024/06/18/ked202406180035.700x.0.jpg)
That prompted Sunday’s loudspeaker broadcast, which also featured a reference to South Korea’s Samsung Electronics being a popular smartphone brand around the world.
Within hours, Kim’s younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, North Korea’s go-to critic of the U.S. and South Korea, warned of a “new counteraction” should the unwelcomed transmissions continue. “This is the prelude to a very dangerous situation,” Kim Yo Jong said in a late Sunday night statement.
K-pop, in particular, has served as a barometer for relations between the North and South— and is a sore spot for Kim Jong Un, who wants to limit exposure to the outside world inside his impoverished country. In 2015, after loudspeakers boomed out several songs by the girl group “Girls’ Generation,” Kim declared a “semi-war state” and ordered North Korea to fire artillery shells near the border.
As ties warmed roughly three years later, one of the Girls’ Generation members sang a North Korean song—called “Blue Willow Tree”—in Pyongyang during an inter-Korean summit. Kim and his wife attended the “Spring Is Coming” concert.
![An image provided by the South Korean Defense Ministry on Sunday showed items believed to be North Korean trash from balloons that crossed the inter-Korea border, on a street in Seoul. PHOTO: HANDOUT/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES](https://www.kedglobal.com/data/ked/image/2024/06/18/ked202406180037.700x.0.jpg)
South Korea chose not to broadcast anything on Monday, though could resume at a moment’s notice.
North Koreans were spotted dusting off their own loudspeakers, Seoul’s military said.
![A visitor looked toward North Korea from an observatory in Paju, South Korea, on Sunday. PHOTO: LEE JIN-MAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS](https://www.kedglobal.com/data/ked/image/2024/06/18/ked202406180038.700x.0.jpg)
Write to Dasl Yoon at dasl.yoon@wsj.com
More to Read
-
North KoreaKim Jong Un’s Balloon Barrage: Bags of Excrement Fly Into the South
May 30, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
5 Min read
Comment 0
LOG IN