South Korea vows to retaliate against North Korea after launching garbage-filled balloons over the border.

South Korea said on Sunday it would soon take “unbearable” retaliatory measures against North Korea over its launching balloons carrying waste across the border and other provocations.

Last week, North Korea launched hundreds of huge balloons to dump waste on South Korea, simulated nuclear strikes against its neighbor and reportedly jammed the South’s GPS navigation signals, in a escalating animosities between rivals.

South Korea’s national security director Chang Ho-jin said Sunday that top officials in an emergency meeting decided to take “unbearable” measures against North Korea in response. to his recent series of provocative acts.

Chang called the North’s balloon campaign and alleged GPS signal jamming “absurd and irrational acts of provocation that a normal country cannot imagine.” He accused North Korea of ​​wanting to cause “disquiet and chaos in public opinion” in South Korea.

South Korean officials have not said what retaliatory measures they would take. But many observers say South Korea will likely resume its front-line broadcasts to North Korea, including criticism of its dire human rights situation, world news and songs from K- pop. North Korea is extremely sensitive to such broadcasts because most of its 26 million people have no official access to foreign television and radio programs.

Earlier on Sunday, South Korea’s military said more than 700 balloons sent from North Korea had also been discovered in various parts of South Korea. Cigarette butts, scraps of fabric, waste paper and vinyl were attached to the balloons, but no dangerous substances, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

This is North Korea’s second balloon activity in less than a week. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, South Korean authorities said they found about 260 North Korean balloons carrying trash and manure.

No major damage was reported in South Korea.

North Korea said its balloon launch was a response to South Korean activists flying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets via their own balloons across the border. North Korea often responds with fury to balloons from South Korea. In 2020, North Korea blew up an empty liaison office built by South Korea in the North, in anger over South Korean balloon activities.

Experts say North Korea’s balloon campaign, believed to be the first of its kind in seven years, aims to stoke internal division in South Korea over its conservative government’s hardline policies toward the North . They say North Korea is also likely to further escalate tensions in the run-up to the US presidential election in November.

Since 2022, North Korea has sharply accelerated the pace of its weapons testing to build a larger nuclear arsenal. Last week, it fired a barrage of nuclear-capable weapons into the sea during an exercise simulating a pre-emptive attack on South Korea.