South scales up border broadcasts in response to another trash balloon launch by North

South Korea resumed full-scale loudspeaker broadcasts toward the North on Sunday in response to the North's launch of another batch of waste-laden balloons toward the South.

Loudspeakers being taken down at a western frontline unit in June 2004. [YONHAP]

South Korea resumed full-scale loudspeaker broadcasts toward the North on Sunday in response to the North's launch of another batch of waste-laden balloons toward the South.

"As we have warned repeatedly, our army will begin full-scale loudspeaker broadcasts on all fronts starting at 1 p.m.," the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement on Sunday.

The South's broadcasts on Sunday will reportedly include reports of recent defection by a North Korean diplomat.

Earlier in the morning, at 9:15 a.m., the JCS announced that North Korea had launched trash-carrying balloons toward northern Gyeonggi and advised the public not to touch fallen balloons and to report them to the military or police.

The JCS condemned the North's launch, saying that the "North Korean army continues to engage in low-level and deceitful behavior despite the recent severe rain damage that has affected both our people and those in North Korea."

They also warned that such actions, which escalate tensions in frontline areas, could have deadly consequences, and emphasized that the North Korean regime bears the full responsibility for the situation.

This latest launch of waste-laden balloons comes three days after the North's last launch toward the South on Thursday.

With Sunday's launch, the North has sent more than 2,000 waste-laden balloons into the South over nine separate incidents.

The North claims that its launches are in retaliation for the anti-North leaflets that North Korean defectors in South Korea have sent across the border.

In response, South Korea resumed limited loudspeaker broadcasts toward North Korea along the western, central and eastern fronts on Thursday from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

On June 9, South Korea resumed its loudspeaker broadcasts for the first time in six years, following a massive balloon launch from the North.

The loudspeaker broadcasts are deployed to wage psychological warfare against the North and to suppress the North's provocations.

"Our army is closely monitoring North Korea's activities under a robust South Korea-United States defensive posture and maintains the capability and readiness to respond staunchly to any of the North's provocations," the JCS said.

BY WOO JI-WON [woo.jiwon@joongang.co.kr]