There are more North Korean garbage balloons, South Korea warns.
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has issued a warning, claiming that "dirty leaflets and things" were found in the border region.
Seoul: A day after the North warned that South Korea would have to pay "a very high price" for sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border, the South Korean military issued a warning on Monday, saying that North Korea will be held accountable for any harm caused by its garbage balloon operation.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) issued the warning in response to a statement made by Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. According to Yonhap news agency, Yo-jong claimed that "dirty leaflets and things" had been found in 17 locations throughout her country and the border region, and she denounced such an act as "dirty play."
Colonel Lee Sung-jun, a spokesman for the JCS, stated, "I once again emphasise that all responsibility lies in North Korea should South Korean citizens suffer any damage from the North's trash-carrying balloons."
Lee pointed to a rare image circulated by the North Korean official media that showed a bundle of cold medicine and pamphlets that had been brought in from South Korea being burned. Lee explained that this image only demonstrated how North Korea is responding to items that have been sent in as humanitarian aid.
In retaliation for anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent by North Korean defectors in the South, North Korea has dropped more than 2,000 trash-filled balloons into the South since late May. In response, South Korea used its border loudspeakers to broadcast loud anti-Pyongyang messages.
The JCS spokesman stated that the military will adopt a "flexible" attitude regarding the loudspeaker broadcasts, contingent upon specific operational and strategic conditions.
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