Well, that doesn’t sound like much fun at all. And it isn’t.

Back on June 3rd, I wrote about a new kind of war being waged between the North and South Koreans: a balloon war. But not hot air balloons, and not water balloons. These were garbage balloons — filled with all sorts of filthy, disgusting, potentially contaminated waste materials, and being lobbed by the hundreds from North Korea into the South, allegedly in retaliation for the floaters that had been finding their way in the opposite direction for some years, delivering anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets. Just paper. In an earlier statement, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korea’s President Kim Jong Un, referred to them as “dirty leaflets.”

So the Kim regime — never to be willingly bested — decided to “out-dirty” the South with their own balloons. But these — more than 3,000 of them just since May of this year — contained the likes of cigarette butts, discarded batteries, and even manure. Now, that’s dirty.

In response — and this is where the story begins to sound a bit like an episode of M*A*S*H — the South Koreans have been bombarding the folks in the North with loudspeaker broadcasts of propaganda along the demilitarized zone, as well as entertainment such as K-pop songs (which are anathema to the straight-laced Northerners). That truly sounds like Hawkeye Pierce and B.J. Hunnicutt vs. Charles Emerson Winchester III, making life interesting at the M*A*S*H 4077th.

But in real life, it’s not so funny. Someone has to clean up the mess, which is not only expensive, but presents a possible health hazard. While thus far no toxic materials appear to have been found, precautions still must be taken. Who knows when you might be standing under the next trash dump? The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) have cautioned the public not to touch the balloons, and to report any they find to the proper authorities.

In an earlier statement, the JCS had said: “North Korea’s actions clearly violate international law and seriously threaten the safety of our citizens. All responsibility arising from the North Korean balloons lies entirely with North Korea, and we sternly warn North Korea to immediately stop its inhumane and low-level actions.”

From the North, Kim Yo Jong has issued a “stern warning”: “It seems that the situation we cannot overlook is coming,” and further stating that there would be “a gruesome and dear price” to pay that could change the South’s “mode of counteraction” with the North. [Yoonjung Seo and Brad Lendon, CNN, July 24, 2024.] Sounds like an “or else” to me.

In the meantime, North Korea has also continued to express its displeasure (to put it mildly) with the military drills being held by the United States and South Korea on the Korean peninsula, the latest being the deployment of U.S. Marine Corps fighter jets to Suwon Air Base for joint aerial training this week. [CNN, id.] There seems to be a great deal of displeasure in the Kim household this week.

*. *. *

And while we try to sort out the possible ramifications of Korea’s ongoing trash wars, consider this: No peace treaty was ever signed between the North and South following the end of the Korean War in 1953. Technically, the two countries are still at war.

Let’s hope they continue to limit their battles to balloons and K-pop.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/29/24

P.S. And both sides should keep in mind that things could always be worse. See what happened this week in a neighborhood of Seattle, Washington:

Luckily, this one was only filled with hot air.