Bizarre psychological warfare using K-pop and trash balloons raises tensions between the 2 Koreas

Seoul, South Korea. Mammoth South Korean speakers BTS music at full volume. Big north korean balloons carrying manure, cigarette butts and used batteries. Little South Korean civilian brochures criticizing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Day after day, strange but Cold War-style campaigns continue on the heavily fortified border of rivals who haven’t had serious talks for years.

“At this point, both Koreas are trying to pressure and deter each other with politically symbolic actions,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “The problem is that neither side wants to be seen as backing down, and tensions at the border could escalate into an unintended conflict.”

Here’s a look at the latest flare in tensions between the two Koreas.

On Sunday, South Korea redeployed its giant speakers along the border for the first time in six years and resumed anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts. The streams reportedly included mega hits from K-pop sensation BTS like “Butter” and “Dynamite,” weather forecasts and news about Samsung, South Korea’s largest company, as well as outside criticism of the North’s missile program and its crackdown on foreign videos.

South Korean officials say the deafening broadcasts were retaliation against North Korea’s recent series of attacks. balloon releases that dumped garbage in South Korea, although it did not suffer significant damage. North Korea says its balloon campaign was a tit-for-tat action against South Korean activists who sent political leaflets critical of its leadership across the border.

North Korea views South Korea’s frontline broadcasts and civilian leaflet campaigns as a serious provocation as it bans most of its 26 million people from accessing foreign news.

According to South Korean officials, North Korea has also reinstated his own propaganda loudspeakers near the border, but had not turned them on as of Tuesday morning. North Korea’s broadcasts in the past have largely revolved around praise for its system and harsh censures of South Korea.

Balloon activities and loudspeaker broadcasts were among the psychological warfare that the two Koreas agreed to stop in 2018. During the Cold War, South Korea also used towering electronic billboards, reminiscent of the “Hollywood” sign near Los Angeles , while North Korea installed signs. with a message that read: “Let us establish a Confederate nation!”

South Korean officials have previously said that transmissions from their speakers can travel about 10 kilometers (6 miles) during the day and 24 kilometers (15 miles) at night. They said previous North Korean broadcasts from their loudspeakers were not clearly audible in areas of South Korea.

Some frontline North Korean soldiers testified after their defections to South Korea that they had enjoyed South Korean broadcasts containing pop songs and accurate weather forecasts that warned of possible rain and advised them to pick up clothes hanging on outdoor clotheslines.

In 2015, when South Korea restarted loudspeaker broadcasts for the first time in 11 years, North Korea fired artillery shells across the border, prompting the South to return fire, according to South Korean officials. No victims were reported.

Experts and defectors say K-pop and other South Korean pop culture products, such as movies and TV series, have emerged as a challenge to the North’s leadership as it steadily gains popularity among the public.

Since the pandemic, Kim has been stepping up a campaign to eliminate the influence of South Korean pop culture and language among his population in a bid to strengthen his family’s dynastic rule.

Playlists on South Korean loudspeaker broadcasts in 2016 included songs by a young singer, IU, whose soft, soothing voice was believed intended to demoralize frontline North Korean male soldiers.

North Korea was more tolerant of South Korean pop culture when ties grew closer in the past. During a brief period of rapprochement in 2018, North Korea allowed some of the The biggest pop stars of the South Visit its capital, Pyongyang, and put on a rare performance.

Television footage from South Korea showed that North Korean audiences seemed to enjoy the singers’ classic ballads but were less enthusiastic about Red Velvet, a K-pop girl group known for their playful, high-pitched voices and sexy choreography. Kim applauded the concert, reportedly calling it a “gift to the citizens of Pyongyang.”

There are concerns that old-fashioned psychological warfare is raising the risks of direct military confrontations between the Koreas, which have already made clear that they are no longer bound by their historic 2018 de-escalation agreements.

Diplomacy between the two countries remains derailed by a broader crisis. Nuclear diplomacy between the United States and North Korea collapsed in 2019. Therefore, it could be difficult for rivals to establish talks as an exit ramp out of the cycle of tit-for-tat tensions.

“South Korea has clear advantages in terms of information operations and conventional military capabilities, but it also has the most to lose in the event of a physical clash,” Professor Easley said. “While the Kim regime is vulnerable to outside information, its self-proclaimed nuclear status may give it overconfidence in its ability to coerce.”

North Korea could retaliate in a way that can prevent a direct counterattack, employing so-called “gray zone” tactics in which its involvement is not quickly confirmed, Wang Son-taek, a professor at Sogang University in North Korea, wrote in a recent paper. Seoul. newspaper column.

South Korea’s loudspeaker broadcasts reportedly lasted two hours on Sunday, and the country did not turn on its loudspeakers again on Monday and Tuesday. The South Korean military said it is ready to launch immediate strong retaliation if attacked.