K-Pop and trash: Inside Korea’s balloon war
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00:00This activist, who opposes the North Korean regime, receives round-the-clock police protection.
00:07I was attacked twice by North Korean terrorists.
00:14Once with a pistol and another with a poison needle.
00:19Thankfully, the police caught them.
00:23Park sends 12-metre-high balloons twice a month over the border to North Korea.
00:28Each balloon carries eight kilograms of anti-Pyongyang leaflets, US dollar bills,
00:33and USB sticks loaded with K-pop and South Korean TV dramas.
00:38Thanks to K-pop, we can let North Koreans know that people here live in a society that is rich, human and free.
00:51Park, who was born in North Korea, fled his home country after coming across similar propaganda literature
00:59sent from the free and democratic South.
01:02Today, the defector's actions are making headlines around the world.
01:12But not everyone agrees with what he's doing.
01:15Since 28th May, North Korea has retaliated by sending more than 2,000 balloons filled with waste
01:22and even excrement to the South.
01:25And these people, living close to the border, have had enough.
01:29They want activists like Park to stop provoking the North Korean regime.
01:40Launching South Korean balloons is clearly an attack on the pride of North Korea
01:44and as a result, the North Korean military become aggressive and threaten to shoot us.
01:49We're very anxious.
01:51South Koreans are divided over the balloon war.
01:54In 2023, the constitutional court here in Seoul ruled that activists could not be banned
01:59from sending political propaganda to North Korea as they were only affirming their freedom of expression.
02:05So we can expect that this balloon war will continue in the region.