MOSCOW, July 16 (Bernama-Sputnik) -- North Korean defectors in South Korea will face grave consequences if they continue to send leaflet-carrying balloons into the North's territory, Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said on Tuesday, reported Sputnik.
A total of 29 large balloons were spotted in the border areas and in some regions deep into North Korea on Tuesday, she said in a statement, adding that relevant authorities were conducting searches, removing the fallen objects and burning them.
"It seems that the situation we cannot overlook is coming. We give a stern warning again. They should be ready to pay a gruesome and dear price," Kim said in a statement published by the North Korean KCNA news agency.
This is the latest event in the series of inter-Korean balloon exchanges. Kim Jong Un has previously warned against such actions by the defectors, citing a possible "very high price" for Seoul's sending of balloons over the border. On Monday, the South Korean military said that Pyongyang would be held accountable for any damage caused by trash-carrying balloons flown south in response to propaganda leaflets launched towards the North.
A group of North Korean defectors in the South sent 20 large air balloons carrying 300,000 anti-Pyongyang leaflets, USB drives and one-dollar bills over to the North in mid-June. Kim Yo Jong warned that such actions would not go unanswered. North Korea said it sent 3,500 air balloons carrying 15 tonnes of trash south. The South Korean military said it would resume military activities in the demilitarised border zone and on the islands near North Korea, reversing the commitments made in an inter-Korean military pact.
South Korea resumed propaganda broadcasts through loudspeakers along the border with North Korea in response to Pyongyang sending trash-filled balloons into the South for the first time since 2016. North Korea has retaliated by sending an additional batch of balloons.
-- BERNAMA-SPUTNIK
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