[Interview] South Korean army provoked North Korea with balloons first, says whistleblower

“No, it was our personal psyops group that first launched leaflets into North Korea.”

The previous soldier smiles bitterly when he remembers the South Korean army’s declare that North Korea’s launch of garbage-laden balloons had prompted it to renew propaganda broadcasts on loudspeakers on the border with North Korea.

That was in Might and June of final 12 months, throughout a time of rising tensions when defector teams launched leaflets into North Korea, which responded by lobbing waste again throughout the border. South Korea then resumed loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts, prompting North Korea to show by itself loudspeakers.

The younger man carried out his army service as a member of South Korea’s Protection Psychological Operations Group in 2023 and 2024.

South Korea halted its balloon launches shortly earlier than the martial regulation declaration on Dec. 3, 2024, and President Lee Jae Myung halted the loudspeaker broadcasts as a preemptive measure this June, main North Korea to show off its personal loudspeakers.

The previous soldier gave a really detailed account of the psyop group’s actions to the Hankyoreh on Sunday. He declined to disclose his face or actual title out of consideration for the troopers he had served beside.

Since he was tasked with technical calculations for the group’s leaflet launching operations, he had a transparent grasp of the scenario. The whistleblower’s position was figuring out the areas with the very best wind pace and course for the balloon launches, the quantity of hydrogen to place within the balloons, and the burden of the leaflets to be carried by the balloons.

The previous soldier provided the next clarification for why he determined to blow the whistle.

“Given fixed reviews indicating that the psyop unit’s launch of propaganda balloons was a provocation aimed toward setting the stage for a martial regulation declaration, I concluded there was completely no cause for me to hide this data.”

The previous soldier additionally mentioned he was indignant that the rash leaflet launches had put service members liable to retaliatory strikes by North Korea.

“Since we didn’t even alert front-line items in regards to the leaflet launch operations, these items have been confused and alarmed by each balloon launch,” the whistleblower mentioned.

In response to him, service members’ security took a again seat to the secrecy and success of the operations.

In June of 2024, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Workers mentioned that drills have been carried out in preparation for the resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts into the North. Pictured are troopers inspecting and working loudspeaker automobiles as a part of the drill. (courtesy of the Joint Chiefs)

Hankyoreh: When did the operation to launch leaflets into North Korea start?

Whistleblower: A number of months after Yoon Suk-yeol turned president, I used to be assigned to the psyops group. After I first joined, my older buddies and the noncoms have been involved that our unit could be dissolved. After the Panmunjom Declaration in April 2018, South and North Korea had agreed to cease loudspeaker broadcasts and halt leaflet launches across the Navy Demarcation Line.

When Yoon turned president, our drills turned extra frequent and extra intense. However even then, we nonetheless weren’t really launching leaflets. We simply assumed the psyops drills have been meant as preparations for wartime. However the temper modified after the Constitutional Courtroom struck down a regulation banning launches of leaflets into North Korea in September 2023. After that call, we have been despatched to the entrance traces for coaching that approximated the actual factor. After the workout routines in October, an officer in our unit introduced us collectively and instructed us we’d be doing precise launches sooner or later.

Hankyoreh: The place was your coaching held, and what did it contain?

Whistleblower: The coaching was held to the rear of the bases on the entrance. There was a danger of balloons by chance flying into North Korea throughout coaching. However after the Constitutional Courtroom struck down that regulation, the workout routines have been moved to the entrance and handled like precise operations. We might perform all of the prelaunch procedures after which pop the balloon as a substitute of releasing it. After the coaching was over, our officer gathered collectively the platoon members and instructed us we weren’t to inform buddies or relations, and even members of different platoons, in regards to the coaching. The ambiance within the unit grew tense after that.

Hankyoreh: How did you preserve secrecy?

Whistleblower: We have been instructed that not even the Joint Chiefs of Workers might be made conscious of the operation. The Joint Chiefs periodically evaluate items’ fight readiness. Throughout these evaluations, we’d take the leaflet launch tools out of the everyday storage space and transfer it some other place.

Hankyoreh: How did the precise balloon launches work?

Whistleblower: We started flying leaflets into North Korea in October 2023. The launches usually came about at night time. That’s when our operational handbook instructed us to launch them. The timing was between 9 and 11 pm.

There are a number of necessities for finishing up a launch, however a very powerful one is wind course. The wind needs to be blowing to the north. We might generally scrap a launch within the center as a result of the wind course was unreliable or had modified. I feel we did 10 launches altogether. After we confirmed that the balloon had reached the goal vacation spot, we’d be praised and inspired by our superiors.

On April 23, 2024, a civic group in Paju, close to the inter-Korean border, condemns makes an attempt by households of victims of abduction by North Korea to distribute anti-North Korea leaflets at Imjingak. 

Hankyoreh: Usually talking, the place have been the balloons supposed to succeed in?

Whistleblower: We drew traces on our army charts between North Korean army bases, airports and cities above a sure inhabitants based mostly on knowledge from earlier launches. Then we chosen factors on these traces in consideration of the pace and course of the wind and the quantity of gas [hydrogen] the balloon might carry. In principle, the balloons might attain Russia, however in actuality, we flew them so far as Wonsan in Kangwon Province [in North Korea]. Given the gathered knowledge, we might ship as many balloons as we needed to the specified areas.

Hankyoreh: What form have been the balloons, and what number of have been there in every launch?

Whistleblower: The phrase “balloon” is one thing of a misnomer given the scale of these items. They have been as tall as a two- or three-story constructing, and the largest might carry a human being. Every balloon carried round 10 kilograms of leaflets. With 100 balloons usually a part of every launch, we have been sending over round 1,000 kilograms of leaflets.

Hankyoreh: What did the leaflets say?

Whistleblower: There have been about 10 completely different varieties. So far as I can bear in mind, one mentioned that South Korean troopers can go to the hospital once they get sick and get loads of scorching meals. There was additionally {a photograph} of South Korean faculty women happening a visit abroad. The leaflets additionally mentioned the value of the luxurious purses carried by Kim Yo-jong [sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un].

Hankyoreh: Have been leaflets the one factor you despatched?

Whistleblower: Our unit typically solely despatched leaflets, however just a few instances we did ship radios and USB flash drives containing the drama “Crash Touchdown on You.”

Hankyoreh: In Might 2024, North Korea started reacting angrily to the leaflets launched by civic teams. Have been there any requires warning inside your unit on the time?

Whistleblower: There was nothing of the type. We simply saved launching balloons when the wind was blowing in the correct course.

Hankyoreh: Have been there any robust facets of your service?

Whistleblower: The launches have been held at night time, after our day by day duties, and we weren’t given day off the subsequent day. The army is meant to reward troops with noncombat responsibility after nighttime operations, however that didn’t occur. To get clearance for day off, the unit must report what we’d executed the earlier night time. However we weren’t allowed to formally report or file our leaflet launches. Each the enlisted personnel and the officers have been very sad about that. So in Might, they began giving us depart and liberty after a number of balloon launches.

Navy officers dismantle loudspeakers aimed toward North Korea on Aug. 5, 2025. (courtesy of the Ministry of Nationwide Protection)

Hankyoreh: Whereas finishing up the mission, did you ever end up questioning whether or not you need to be doing this, or if it was harmful?

Whistleblower: Completely. One time, I really mentioned to my platoon chief, “Isn’t this improper of us to do?” out of concern that what we have been doing was basically a provocation and a violation of the armistice. Different members of my unit have been fairly unnerved by the truth that we have been making the primary transfer in scary them for some time, till in some unspecified time in the future, they simply did what they needed to. Considering again now, it was a reckless, harmful operation. I imply, this was basically an operation to elicit an assault from North Korea, and troopers have been made to hold out this mission when who is aware of what might have occurred whereas they have been doing it. 

Even the items on the entrance line would go into emergency mode every time we despatched leaflets. We didn’t inform items within the space that we have been finishing up operations to disseminate leaflets, so in fact, the troopers on guard responsibility on the guard posts and basic outposts alongside the Navy Demarcation Line would report back to higher-ups once they noticed balloons floating towards the North. These items would name our unit and ask if we have been sending up leaflets, and we’d simply play dumb, saying stuff like, “Not us,” “No clue,” or “Not at liberty to say.” These different items needed to cope with a lot hassle and not using a clue as to what was really taking place. 

Hankyoreh: What do you consider what you probably did now that you simply’ve been discharged?

Whistleblower: It left a bitter style in my mouth when the information talked in regards to the North Korean trash balloons by saying that North Korea was “scary” us, as a result of actually, I felt they have been simply retaliating after we began sending leaflets into North Korea first. After the martial regulation disaster final 12 months, it occurred to me that we actually had been attempting to bait North Korea right into a battle. Then, later, once I noticed reviews in regards to the drone [incursions into] Pyongyang that have been being investigated by the particular counsel probe, my coronary heart sank once I realized that the work that I had executed had been a part of the plan for an riot. 

By Kwon Hyuk-chul, workers reporter

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