Airborne K-pop. South Korea’s revenge on North Korea
Recently, North Korea has attacked South Korea by sending balloons carrying rubbish and excrement over the border. In retaliation, South Korea has sent balloons containing thumb drives with some "surprising content" to North Korea.
The conflict between North Korea and South Korea has been ongoing for many years. In 1948, the Korean War resulted in the division of one country into two smaller ones: democratic South Korea and authoritarian North Korea.
South Korean activists are doing everything they can to help their neighbours in Kim Jong Un's country. The bravest of them are even organising escapes for North Korean citizens. This is an extremely dangerous phenomenon, as the family of the person who has escaped faces a death sentence or years of imprisonment in labour camps.
South Korea sends balloons to North Korea
South Korean activists are using balloons to transport items banned in North Korea. These items include information leaflets denouncing Kim Jong Un's propaganda, as well as portable disks containing music videos and K-pop songs.
Possessing such material in North Korea is extremely dangerous. In January 2024, two 16-year-olds were sentenced to 12 years of hard labour for listening to K-pop and watching K-dramas. During the announcement of the sentence, a voiceover stated: "The corrupt puppet regime's culture has even infiltrated our youth. They are only 16, yet they have destroyed their futures."
North Korea packed excrement in bags and attached them to balloons
North Korea has decided to take revenge for what it considers "littering the country" with leaflets. In response, Kim Jong Un's regime sent approximately 90 white balloons to South Korea, each carrying bags filled with rubbish and excrement. North Korea's state news agency announced that this act of retaliation was just the beginning. The regime has vowed to send many more balloons in response to the shipments sent from South Korea.
Will South Korea take revenge for North Korea's revenge?
Anyone who assumed that North Korea's actions would go unnoticed was mistaken. In response, South Korean activists sent balloons carrying packages to Kim Jong Un's country, containing USB drives loaded with K-pop, US dollars, and leaflets criticising the regime. A group of North Korean defectors called the Free North Korea Movement announced they had sent ten large balloons with as many as 200,000 leaflets attached.
Source: The Guardian
