Mick Hartley

The North Korean rubbish ballons being sent over to the South, packed with anything up to and including human faeces, are getting more and more annoying – as, of course, intended. The South did return to the old loudspeaker broadcasts, halted since 2018, but they don't seem to be having any effect – if anything encouraging the North to send more balloons – and they're understandably reluctant to escalate any further such a ridiculously infantile exchange: “low-grade provocations unimaginable from a normal country". 

Time for a more robust approach?. Richard Lloyd Parry in the Times:

South Korea has promised to take “stern military measures” if North Korea continues its relentless barrage of hot-air balloons carrying rubbish across the border between the two enemy states.

The angry threat comes after Incheon airport, one of the world’s busiest, was forced to close twice early on Monday because of the danger to aircraft presented by the drifting balloons. According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), 5,500 of them have been released in 22 separate launches, carrying bags containing rubbish such as plastic bottles, used batteries, old shoes and faeces.

The falling balloons and their cargo have damaged cars. The timers used to release the rubbish bags have even ignited accidentally, causing fires on the ground.

“While there may be inconveniences and difficulties caused by North Korea’s trash balloons, our fundamental motive in eradicating them is to demonstrate that the enemy will gain nothing,” said Colonel Lee Sung-jun, a spokesman for the JCS.

“Still, if serious danger is caused to the safety of our citizens or if the North is assessed to have crossed the line, our military will take stern military measures.”

It's risky, though.

Pressed for more details about what would trigger a military response and what it would consist of, Lee declined to clarify the “precise standard at the moment”.

But it would probably involve attempts to shoot down the balloons, probably by helicopter, a risky undertaking in a border zone in which troops from both sides are constantly on alert.

Committing important military resources to dealing with what are known as “grey zone tactics”, short of deadly force, would also risk encouraging the North to send even more balloons — and loss of face if for the South if it found itself unable to respond.

Of course some countries – Ukraine, Israel – could only dream of being bombarded with shit rather than deadly high explosives. It could always get worse.