South Korea sends propaganda balloons in response to North's trash balloons

South Korean activists have sent 10 balloons loaded with anti-Kim Jong-un leaflets into North Korea, Yonhap news agency reported, after Pyongyang sent hundreds of trash-filled balloons south last week.

The North says its balloons, carrying bags of garbage such as cigarette butts and plastic waste, were retaliation for those sent by South Korean activists.

While Pyongyang called off its campaign, it warned that it would restart if more balloons came north.

"The defector group Free North Korea Movement announced [on Thursday] that they had launched 200,000 leaflets towards North Korea early in the morning," the Yonhap reported on Thursday.

Yonhap reported that the group's leader, Park Sang-Hak, said, "We used ten balloons to send 200,000 leaflets from Pocheon, Gyeonggi".

He added that the balloons also included flash drives containing South Korean music.

A photograph released by the group showed an activist holding up a large poster with photographs of North's leader and his sister and chief government spokesperson, Kim Yo-jong.

"Enemy of the people Kim Jong-jun sent filth and trash to the South Korean people, but we, the defectors, send truth and love to our fellow North Koreans!" the poster says.

Spiking tensions

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol this week fully suspended a 2018 tension-reducing military deal with the North in response to the trash-carrying balloons sent by Pyongyang last week.

The move will allow the South to resume live fire drills and restart loudspeaker propaganda campaigns along the border with the North.

The broadcasts infuriate Pyongyang, which has previously threatened artillery strikes against the loudspeaker units unless they were switched off.

The Free North Korea Movement revealed earlier this week that they had sent balloons carrying around 2,000 USB flash drives containing songs by South Korean singer Lim Young-woong, as well as other K-pop and K-dramas, into the North on May 10.