South Korean activists counter North's faecal attack with K‑pop balloons
6 June 2024 15:38
South Korea has responded to an attack by North Korea, which sent balloons filled with trash and faeces to its neighbour. In "revenge," the democratic country decided to "bombard" Kim Jong Un's state with balloons attached to USB drives containing a surprise.
The standoff between North Korea and South Korea has been ongoing for many years. In 1948, due to the Korean War, one nation was divided into two smaller ones: democratic South Korea and authoritarian North Korea. Activists from South Korea are doing everything to help their neighbours in Kim Jong Un's country. The bravest even organise escapes for North Korean citizens. This is a hazardous endeavour— the family of the person who escaped faces death or lengthy imprisonment in labour camps.
South Korea sends balloons to North Korea
Activists from South Korea use balloons to transport items banned in North Korea. Among the items sent via air are informational leaflets debunking Kim Jong Un's propaganda and portable drives containing music videos and K-pop songs. Interacting with such materials in North Korea is particularly 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 sentencing, the announcer said: "The rotten puppet regime's culture has spread even to teenagers. They are just 16 years old, but they ruined their own future."
North Korea packed feces into bags and attached them to balloons
North Korea decided to retaliate for the "littering of the country," as sending leaflets is considered. In return, Kim Jong Un's state sent about 90 white balloons carrying bags filled with trash and faeces to South Korea. The North Korean state news agency announced that this is not the end of the revenge. North Korea vowed to send significantly more balloons in retaliation for the packages delivered from South Korea.
Will South Korea avenge North Korea's revenge?
Anyone who thought North Korea's actions would go unanswered was mistaken. Activists from South Korea have sent balloons to Kim Jong Un's country with packages containing portable drives loaded with K-pop, U.S. dollars, and leaflets criticising the regime. A group of North Korean defectors called the Free North Korea Movement announced that they sent 10 gigantic balloons, each carrying around 200,000 leaflets.
