Mick Hartley

Relations between the two Koreas, never good, are going through one of their periodic lows. South Korea president Yoon Suk-yeol is a hard-line conservative who is not willing, as so many of his predecessors have been, to try the friendly appeasement approach. It never worked, anyway. So when North Korea blew up a couple of its own roads close to the border the other day – a gesture, presumably, intended to underline the South's recently declared position that reunification can never happen and the South is and shall remain enemy number one – the South Korean armed forces responded not with a shrug but with "counter-fire”. And in response to the balloons coming over from the North, full of everything up to and including shit, and interfering with flights in and out of Incheon airport, the South have decided to resurrect the old tactic of dropping propaganda leaflets, but, as Richard Lloyd Parry reports in the Times, with a technological upgrade:

Now, the South has responded with a new and unprecedented “grey zone” attack — drones that have successfully flown 160 miles to Pyongyang and back, dropping propaganda leaflets. The drones have provoked rage, even by the high standards of fury upheld by the Kim regime.

Kim’s sister, and right-hand woman, Kim Yo-jong, promised that “the moment that [another] drone … is discovered in the sky over our capital city again, there will certainly be a horrible disaster,” explaining that this will involve “destroying Seoul and the [South Korean] military force”.

Chilling words – if it wasn't par for the course from Kim's grim-faced attack-dog sister, who has a long record of unbalanced invective against the South – "no more than a running wild dog on a bone given by the U.S" or “South Korea should discipline itself if it wants to stave off disaster.”

In Pyongyang itself, as the Daily NK reports, the authorities are alarmed, but the people, it seems, not so much:

North Korea put Pyongyang on emergency alert after claiming that South Korea sent drones into the country on Oct. 11. The order came immediately after North Korea’s foreign ministry issued a “decisive statement” through state media, according to a source in Pyongyang.

The statement accused South Korea of sending drones to drop propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang, including near the leadership headquarters, and ordered organizations to be on high alert. Calling it a grave provocation aimed at the country’s core, the government ordered the military and civil defense forces to prepare for combat to defend Pyongyang with their lives.

Factory security guards and civil defense forces, including units of the Worker-Peasant Red Guards, at every organization and enterprise in Pyongyang, including small businesses, have been conducting emergency mobilization drills since Oct. 11, the source said.

“The drills are scheduled to last for 10 days, but it was mentioned beforehand that the drills could be extended if necessary,” the source said.

In addition, the authorities said that all citizens of Pyongyang should remain vigilant in their daily lives and that if they come across any leaflets or other suspicious items, they should not touch or look at them, but should immediately inform the authorities at their local state security department, police station, neighborhood watch unit or neighborhood government office….

According to the source, residents of the capital pay little attention to North Korea’s periodic denunciations of the South. They briefly take note of the latest comments and then go about their normal routines.

“The government is trying to reinforce the ideological conformity of the people by responding harshly and creating a sober atmosphere. But in private conversations with friends and family, Pyongyang’s citizens note that South Korea must have really made a lot of progress if it’s sending unmanned aircraft all the way to Pyongyang,” the source said.