Trash Balloons Dropped Near Presidential Office... North Korea's Weaponization Concerns [Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club]

Trash Balloons Released in Buk, Dropping onto Yongsan Presidential Office Building
Concerns Over Weaponization Experience Accumulation Including GPS Device Attachment

Concerns are growing that North Korea is preparing to weaponize the trash balloons it has been repeatedly sending. In particular, there are calls to prepare for the possibility of weaponization after a trash balloon fell inside the Yongsan Presidential Office building.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 24th, a trash balloon released by North Korea fell inside the Yongsan Presidential Office building. The Presidential Security Service stated in a press release that "in the early morning hours, a North Korean trash balloon burst in the air, scattering debris around the Yongsan Office area," adding, "Safety inspections confirmed that the objects posed no danger or contamination, and they were collected. Continuous monitoring is underway in cooperation with the Joint Chiefs of Staff."

It was confirmed that the balloon that fell in the Yongsan area contained various types of leaflets with harsh criticisms of President Yoon Seok-yeol and his wife, Kim Geon-hee. This is the first time North Korea has sent trash balloons containing leaflets directly criticizing the presidential couple. North Korea has been continuously sending trash balloons containing waste, and on July 24th, a North Korean trash balloon also fell inside the Yongsan Presidential Office building.

The problem is that North Korea’s trash balloons are becoming more sophisticated. North Korea has equipped some of the trash balloons sent south with Global Positioning System (GPS) transmitters. The military believes that North Korea is using GPS devices to track the balloon’s flight path in real time and can drop the balloon’s payload at specific desired locations. Although North Korea cannot equip all balloons with GPS devices due to resource limitations, the military assesses that North Korea is attaching GPS devices to some balloons to monitor their routes and accumulate experience and data.

There are also concerns that the North Korean military could use balloons with tracking capabilities to carry out actions similar to deliberate attacks. So far, the military has identified that the balloon payloads are detonated by a heating device that activates after a preset timer runs out, burning the bags containing trash.

However, if North Korea introduces a device that can remotely detonate balloons upon reaching a specific altitude, rather than just tracking their routes via GPS, this would constitute deliberate weaponization and could lead to a different and more serious situation than before.

Foreign media reports have also emerged that the North Korean military has shared the military use of ‘balloons’ with the Russian military. Ukrainian media Ukrainska Pravda reported that 18 North Korean soldiers who deserted from a training site about 7 km from the Ukrainian border in Russia’s Kursk region were captured by Russian forces in Komarichi, Bryansk region, about 60 km from their escape point, two days later on the 16th. It is known that the North Korean military shared the military use of ‘balloons’ with the Russian military, while the Russian military imparted modern infantry combat techniques.

If the Ukrainian media report is accurate, North Korea may have used South Korea as a ‘testing ground’ to enhance the performance of its ‘trash balloons’ ahead of its deployment to Russia. Some experts have analyzed that military balloons, which are cheaper than drones, could be used to overload Ukrainian air defense systems.

A military official said, “We are also considering the possibility that North Korea chooses the timing and location to disperse trash in this way and are conducting additional analysis.”