‘Anti-South Leaflets’ fall at Presidential Office, targeting with GPS

[Anchor]

Today (10.24), North Korea released balloons filled with leaflets disparaging President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife.

These balloons also landed near the Yongsan Presidential Office.

It is analyzed that they were equipped with GPS devices.

Yoo Ho-yoon reports.

[Report]

During the official welcoming ceremony for the President of Poland, leaflets suddenly flutter down from the sky.

Staff members of the presidential office hurriedly pick up the leaflets to clean them up.

North Korea sent over 20 balloons filled with disparaging leaflets towards South Korea early this morning, and some of them landed at the Yongsan Presidential Office.

In particular, this time, the balloons contained leaflets targeting President Yoon Suk Yeol and First Lady Kim Keon-hee.

The Presidential Security Service stated that North Korea's balloons burst in the air, and the debris found at the office was not contaminated or dangerous.

Although balloons had previously landed at the presidential office in July, this is the first time they have been used to distribute leaflets disparaging the presidential couple.

North Korea has recently been attaching GPS and location information systems to the balloons to increase their accuracy, and since many of the debris were found around Yongsan, it is possible that they aimed to concentrate their distribution on the presidential office and military facilities.

Since claiming on Oct. 11 that South Korea had released anti-North Korea leaflets disparaging the Kim family using drones, North Korea has continued its criticism and threats towards the South, which is analyzed as a retaliatory measure aimed at distributing anti-South leaflets at the presidential office.

[Cheong Seong-chang/Director of the Korean Peninsula Strategy Center at Sejong Institute: "This can be interpreted as revealing their intention to politically shake South Korean society, going beyond simply sending waste."]

This is the 30th instance of North Korea releasing balloons, and South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff are conducting a detailed analysis of the debris, including whether GPS was attached.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff urged an immediate cessation of the behavior of sending crude leaflets disparaging the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and warned that all responsibility for this lies with North Korea.

KBS News, Yoo Ho-yoon.