North Korea dumps trash balloon in South Korea’s presidential compound, know what was in it

Days after formally calling South Korea a “hostile state”, North Korea Thursday allegedly again sent a balloon carrying trash which landed on Seoul’s presidential compound that contained propaganda leaflets ridiculing President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife.

A report by AFP cited a statement from the Presidential Security Service as stating that the balloon from North Korea “exploded in the air, and the fallen debris was identified scattered around the Yongsan office area” early Thursday morning. 

Following a safety inspection, it was confirmed that “it posed no dangerous risk or contamination”, the service added. 

Not the first time

This was, however, not the first time the South Korean leader’s office in downtown Seoul was directly hit by balloons launched from North Korea. Back in July, a trash balloon from the neighbouring country was spotted in the area which is guarded by scores of soldiers and is also a no-fly zone. 

What was there in the trash balloon?

According to a report by South Korea’s Chosun Daily, the balloon carried anti-South leaflets ridiculing President Yoon and his wife Kim Keon Hee.

The leaflets included photographs of the couple along with phrases such as: “It’s fortunate that President Yoon and his wife have no children” and “South Korea is the Kingdom of Keon Hee.”

The South Korean first lady, Kim Keon Hee, faces allegations of participating in a stock manipulation scheme and meddling in the conservative ruling People Power Party’s candidate nominations in the run-up to the general elections in April.

‘Want to survive, don’t touch North Korea’

As per AFP, one of the propaganda leaflets that fell on a street near the Presidential Office in Seoul on Thursday read, “If war breaks out, the chances of survival are zero. The only way for South Korea to survive is to not touch North Korea!”

North Korea calls it a retaliation

North Korea has been bombarding the South with trash-carrying balloons since May, in what it calls a retaliation for the activists’ propaganda missives.

Activist groups in South Korea have long sent propaganda towards the north, typically carried by balloons, including leaflets, US dollar bills and at times USB drives containing K-pop or K-dramas, which are banned in the tightly controlled regime headed by Kim Jong Un.
This combination of pictures released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on early October 19, 2024 shows a balloon and items apparently from South Korea, found on October 18 in the southern border area in North Korea. Source: AFP | KCNA VIA KNS.
Thursday’s incident comes days after Kim’s powerful sister Kim Yo Jong, accused South Korean activists of sending anti-Pyongyang materials into the North, and South Korea of sending unmanned drones to its capital Pyongyang.