North Korea dumps trash onto South Korea using hundreds of balloons. Here’s what it means

North Korea dumps trash onto South Korea using hundreds of balloons. Here’s what it means
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Balloons with trash sent by North Korea hang on electric wires as South Korean army soldiers stand guard in Muju, South Korea, on May 29, 2024. (Jeonbuk Fire Headquarters via AP)
North Korea dumps trash onto South Korea using hundreds of balloons. Here’s what it means
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Balloons with trash sent by North Korea are seen in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea, on May 29, 2024. (South Korea Presidential Office via AP)
North Korea dumps trash onto South Korea using hundreds of balloons. Here’s what it means
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Trash from a balloon sent by North Korea are scattered on a street in Seoul, South Korea, on May 29, 2024. (South Korea Presidential Office via AP)
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Updated 31 May 2024
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North Korea dumps trash onto South Korea using hundreds of balloons. Here’s what it means

North Korea dumps trash onto South Korea using hundreds of balloons. Here’s what it means
  • The trash attack is in response to the leafleting campaigns by South Korean activists, says Kim Jong Un's powerful sister
  • Experts say the attack is meant to stoke a division in South Korea over its conservative government’s hard-line policy on North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea: Manure. Cigarette butts. Scraps of cloth. Waste batteries. Even, reportedly, diapers. This week, North Korea floated hundreds of huge balloons to dump all of that trash across rival South Korea — an old-fashioned, Cold War-style provocation that the country has rarely used in recent years.

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un confirmed Wednesday that North Korea sent the balloons and attached trash sacks. She said they were deployed to make good on her country’s recent threat to “scatter mounds of wastepaper and filth” in South Korea in response to the leafleting campaigns by South Korean activists.
Experts say the balloon campaigning is meant to stoke a division in South Korea over its conservative government’s hard-line policy on North Korea. They also say North Korea will also likely launch new types of provocations in coming months to meddle in November’s US presidential election.
Here’s a look at what North Korea’s balloon launches are all about.
What happened?
Since Tuesday night, about 260 balloons flown from North Korea have been discovered across South Korea. There’s no apparent danger, though: The military said an initial investigation showed that the trash tied to the balloons doesn’t contain any dangerous substances like chemical, biological or radioactive materials.
There have been no reports of damages in South Korea. In 2016, North Korean balloons carrying trash, compact discs and propaganda leaflets caused damage to cars and other property in South Korea. In 2017, South Korea found a suspected North Korean balloon with leaflets again. This week, no leaflets were found from the North Korean balloons.
Flying balloons with propaganda leaflets and other items is one of the most common types of psychological warfare the two Koreas launched against each other during the Cold War. Other forms of Korean psychological battle have included loudspeaker blaring, setting up giant front-line electronic billboards and signboards and propaganda radio broadcasts. In recent years, the two Koreas have agreed to halt such activities but sometimes resumed them when tensions rose.
What does North Korea want?
The North’s balloon launches are part of a recent series of provocative steps, which include its failed spy satellite launch and test-firings of about 10 suspected short-range missiles this week. Experts say the North’s leader, Kim Jong Un, will likely further dial up tensions ahead of the US election to try to help former President Donald Trump return to the White House and revive high-stakes diplomacy between them.
“The balloon launches aren’t weak action at all. It’s like North Korea sending a message that next time, it can send balloons carrying powder forms of biological and chemical weapons,” said Kim Taewoo, a former president of South Korea’s government-funded Institute for National Unification.
Koh Yu-hwan, an emeritus professor at Seoul’s Dongguk University, said North Korea likely determined that the balloon campaign is a more effective way to force South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s government to clamp down on the South’s civilian leafletting.
“The point is to make the South Korean people uncomfortable, and build a public voice that the government’s policy toward North Korea is wrong,” Koh said.
North Korea is extremely sensitive to leaflets that South Korean activists occasionally float across the border via their own balloons, because they carry information about the outside world and criticism of the Kim dynasty’s authoritarian rule. Most of the North’s 26 million people have little access to foreign news.
In 2020, North Korea blew up an empty, South Korean-built liaison office on its territory in protest of South Korean civilian leafleting campaigns.
Was anything learned from the trash
North Korea is one of the world’s most secretive countries in the world, and foreign experts are keen on collecting any fragmentary information coming from the country.
But Koh said that there won’t be much meaningful information that South Korea can gain from the North Korean trash dumps, because North Korea would have not put any important items into balloons.
If the manure is the kind made of animal dung, its examination may show what fodder is given to livestock in North Korea. Looks at other trash can provide a glimpse into consumer products in North Korea. But observers say outside experts can get such information more easily from North Korean defectors, their contacts in North Korea and Chinese border towns, and North Korean state publications.
What are the efffpfffffnfvvv?
The North’s balloon activities may deepen public calls in South Korea to stop anti-North Korean leafleting to avoid unnecessary clashes. But it’s unclear whether and how aggressively the South Korean government can urge civil groups to refrain from sending balloons toward North Korea.
In 2023, South Korea’s Constitutional Court struck down a contentious law that criminalized the sending of anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets, calling it an excessive restriction on free speech.
“From Pyongyang’s perspective, this is a tit-for-tat and even restrained action to get Seoul to stop anti-Kim regime leaflets from being sent north. However, it will be difficult for democratic South Korea to comply, given ongoing legal disputes over the freedom of citizens and NGOs to send information into North Korea,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
“The immediate danger of military escalation is not high,” he said, “but recent developments show how sensitive and potentially vulnerable the Kim regime is to information operations.”
 

 


Prosecutors seek up to 14-year terms for French rape trial defendants

Prosecutors seek up to 14-year terms for French rape trial defendants
Updated 32 min 48 sec ago
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Prosecutors seek up to 14-year terms for French rape trial defendants

Prosecutors seek up to 14-year terms for French rape trial defendants
  • The case has sparked horror, protests and a debate about male violence in France
  • Until Wednesday, or latest Thursday morning, prosecutors are outlining their sentencing demands for all the defendants

AVIGNON, France: French prosecutors on Tuesday demanded sentences of up to 14 years for some of the remaining co-defendants of a man charged with enlisting dozens of strangers to rape his wife while she was drugged and unconscious.
On Monday, prosecutors requested a maximum 20-year jail term for Dominique Pelicot, who has been on trial in the southern city of Avignon since September with 49 other men for organizing the rapes and sexual abuse of Gisele Pelicot, now his former wife.
One man is being tried in absentia.
The case has sparked horror, protests and a debate about male violence in France, with tens of thousands of protesters staging demonstrations across the country on Saturday against violence targeting women.
The decade-long abuse of Gisele Pelicot by Dominque Pelicot was only uncovered when he was arrested for a separate upskirting offense, leading investigators to discover his meticulously-kept records of the visitors to the family home in the town Mazan.
Until Wednesday, or latest Thursday morning, prosecutors are outlining their sentencing demands for all the defendants, most of whom come from ordinary professions ranging from the fire brigade to the media.
On Tuesday, public prosecutor Laure Chabaud asked for a 14-year sentence for Karim S., 38, who was one of the few defendants whose messaging with Dominique Pelicot was discovered by investigators.
For Florian R., 32, who did not admit “intent” and Gregory S., 31, who was “aware of Gisele Pelicot’s altered state,” Chabaud demanded thirteen years in prison.
Some defense lawyers have described the sentencing demands as “staggering” and “out of proportion,” alleging the public prosecutor’s office was under pressure from “public opinion.”
“I fear what will happen next,” said Louis-Alain Lemaire, a lawyer for four defendants.
But public prosecutors say the trial should herald a fundamental change in society.
“In 2024, we can no longer say ‘she didn’t say anything, she agreed,’ that’s from another era,” Chabaud said on Monday.
Prosecutors asked for a 12-year sentence for nine of the remaining defendants, including Boris M., 37, who claimed during the hearings that he, too, was a victim.
“He says he was a victim of Dominique Pelicot, like Gisele Pelicot,” prosecutor Jean-Francois Mayet said.
But “at no time did he seek or obtain Gisele Pelicot’s consent,” he said, adding, “in reality, he was pleased with the situation presented to him” by the main defendant.
Prosecutors sought a 12-year sentence for Mahdi D., 36, who also claimed to be a victim of Dominique Pelicot’s actions.
Chabaud also asked for 12-years for Lionel R., 44, who said he was taking “part in a couple’s fantasy.”
Many of the accused argued in court that they believed Pelicot’s claim that they were participating in a libertine fantasy, in which his wife had consented to sexual contact and was only pretending to be asleep.
Among them, 33 have also claimed they were not in their right minds when they abused or raped Gisele Pelicot, a defense not backed by any of the psychological reports compiled by court-appointed experts.
Prosecutors also sought a 12-year jail term for Cyril B., 47, who “was well aware Gisele Pelicot should not be woken up,” and for Thierry P., 54, who said Dominique Pelicot was “solely responsible,” the public prosecutor said.
Mayet demanded the same prison sentence for Omar D., 36, who argued “the husband’s consent and presence seemed to be sufficient,” and Ahmed T., 54, who “denies any responsibility.”
Two other defendants, Redouane A., 40, who said he came to Mazan to “please the couple” and Jean T., 52, who claimed without evidence he was also drugged by the main defendant, are also facing a 12-year jail-term.
On Monday, prosecutors requested a 17-year prison sentence for one defendant, Jean-Pierre M., 63, who applied Pelicot’s practices against his own wife to rape her a dozen times, sometimes in Pelicot’s presence.
The trial has made Gisele Pelicot, who insisted the hearings be held in public, a feminist icon in the fight of women against sexual abuse.
Prosecutor Mayet praised her “courage” and “dignity,” thanking her for allowing the hearings to be held in public.
The verdicts and sentencing are expected by December 20.


Russia vows response to latest Ukraine ATACMS strikes

Russia vows response to latest Ukraine ATACMS strikes
Updated 26 November 2024
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Russia vows response to latest Ukraine ATACMS strikes

Russia vows response to latest Ukraine ATACMS strikes
  • Ukraine firing the long-range missiles into Russia for the first time last week prompted a furious reaction from Moscow
  • Russia’s defense ministry on Tuesday said Ukraine had carried out fresh strikes — on November 23 and 25 — using ATACMS

MOSCOW: Moscow’s military on Tuesday pledged a response to fresh Ukrainian air attacks inside Russia using US-supplied ATACMS missiles.
Ukraine firing the long-range missiles into Russia for the first time last week prompted a furious reaction from Moscow.
Russia’s defense ministry on Tuesday said Ukraine had carried out fresh strikes — on November 23 and 25 — using ATACMS.
“Retaliatory actions are being prepared,” it said in a post on Telegram, without elaborating.
The United States gave Ukraine permission to use the weapons to hit Russian territory earlier this month after months of requests from Kyiv.
In a rare admission, Russia said the fresh strikes had caused damage to military hardware and wounded some of its personnel on the ground.
A strike on the Kursk Vostochny air base wounded two servicemen, the defense ministry said, while a strike on an air defense battery damaged a radar system and also caused “casualties.”
It said three of the five missiles fired in the first strike were shot down, while seven of the eight used in the second were destroyed.
Moscow rarely provides such specific details on Ukrainian aerial attacks and almost never admits missiles have reached their intended target.
The defense ministry also posted photos of what it said were the missile fragments, showing large casings with English-language inscriptions on the side.
AFP was unable to immediately verify the images.
The strikes come with tensions having ratched up dramatically in the near three-year conflict over the last few weeks.
Putin last week signed a decree lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, days before launching the nuclear-capable hypersonic Oreshnik missile at Ukraine.


US Air Force in UK says a small number of drones spotted flying over bases in eastern England

US Air Force in UK says a small number of drones spotted flying over bases in eastern England
Updated 26 November 2024
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US Air Force in UK says a small number of drones spotted flying over bases in eastern England

US Air Force in UK says a small number of drones spotted flying over bases in eastern England
  • The Air Force hasn’t identified who is believed to be behind the incursions
  • Unspecified mitigation measures are underway

LONDON: The US Air Force says a number of small drones have been detected near three bases in eastern England that are used by American forces.
Tuesday’s ongoing incident comes just days after drones were spotted near RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Feltwell. They were actively monitored after they were seen in the vicinity of and over the three bases, US Air Forces Europe said in a statement on Sunday.
The Air Force hasn’t identified who is believed to be behind the incursions. Unspecified mitigation measures are underway.
Lakenheath is home to the 48th Fighter Wing, which the US Air Force describes as the foundation of its combat capability in Europe. Mildenhall hosts the 100th Air Refueling Wing, and Feltwell is a hub for housing, schools and other services.
Lakenheath, Mildenhall and Feltwell, located close to one another in the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk, are Royal Air Force bases used primarily by the US Air Force


Death toll from Hindu-Muslim clashes sparked by mosque survey rises to six in India

Death toll from Hindu-Muslim clashes sparked by mosque survey rises to six in India
Updated 26 November 2024
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Death toll from Hindu-Muslim clashes sparked by mosque survey rises to six in India

Death toll from Hindu-Muslim clashes sparked by mosque survey rises to six in India
  • Street battles broke out in a bid to block a team of surveyors from the government from entering the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal
  • Hindu activist groups have laid claim to several mosques they say were built over Hindu temples during Muslim Mughal rule 

Lucknow, India: The death toll from violent protests in India sparked by a survey into whether a centuries-old mosque was built on a Hindu temple has risen to six, an official said Tuesday.
Around 20 police officers were also wounded during the violence on Sunday in Sambhal in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh, district magistrate Chirag Goyal told AFP.
Street battles broke out in a bid to block a team of surveyors from the government’s Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) from entering the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal.
The six Muslim men were killed by gunfire — with Goyal saying they were shot by fellow protesters.
“The six killed were caught in crossfire by rioters using homemade pistols,” he said. “The police only fired tear gas and rubber bullets.”
Two people were initially reported dead on Sunday, but more details emerged later, while others later died of their wounds.
Goyal said 25 people had been arrested following the violence.
Hindu activist groups have laid claim to several mosques they say were built over Hindu temples during the Muslim Mughal empire centuries ago.
The survey in Sambhal was ordered by a local court, after a petition from a Hindu priest this month claimed it was built on the site of a Hindu temple.
Within hours the court ordered a survey of the mosque, a decision protested by local Muslim residents.
The first survey was undertaken on November 19. A second survey four days later, which included taking photos and video of the mosque’s features, triggered the violence.
The hilltop Shahi Jama Masjid was built in 1526 during the rule of Mughal emperors Babur and Humayun, according to historians, with renovations during the 17th century.
Hindu nationalist activists were emboldened earlier this year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a grand new Hindu temple in the northern city of Ayodhya, built on grounds once home to the centuries-old Babri mosque.
That mosque was torn down in 1992 in a campaign spearheaded by members of Modi’s party, sparking sectarian riots that killed 2,000 people nationwide, most of them Muslims.
Some Hindu campaigners see an ideological patron in Modi.
Calls for India to more closely align the country’s officially secular political system with its majority Hindu faith have rapidly grown louder since Modi was swept to office in 2014.
It has made the country’s roughly 210-million-strong Muslim minority increasingly anxious about their future.


Philippines, UAE pledge stronger economic ties as Marcos marks first visit

Philippines, UAE pledge stronger economic ties as Marcos marks first visit
Updated 26 November 2024
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Philippines, UAE pledge stronger economic ties as Marcos marks first visit

Philippines, UAE pledge stronger economic ties as Marcos marks first visit
  • Marcos is the first Philippine president to visit Abu Dhabi in more than 15 years
  • UAE president says he looks forward to talks on a free trade deal with the Philippines

Manila: The Philippines and the UAE on Tuesday committed to boosting economic relations as Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. marked his first official trip to Abu Dhabi.

On his one-day trip, Marcos was received by UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed.

He is the first Philippine president to visit the UAE since Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2008.

During the meeting, the two leaders committed “to deepening cooperation in various areas, including economy, trade and sustainability,” Marcos’ office said in a statement.

“The two leaders emphasized their dedication to strengthening bilateral ties and delivering lasting benefits to their peoples, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of friendship and collaboration between their nations.”

The Philippines and the UAE celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations on Aug. 19.

Emirati state news agency WAM cited Sheikh Mohammed as saying that he hoped the visit “would herald a new and significant chapter” in UAE-Philippine ties and that the UAE “looks forward to continuing discussions toward reaching a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the Philippines to elevate trade and investment relations to new heights of mutual economic growth.”

Negotiations on the free trade deal have been underway between Philippine and UAE officials since the beginning of this year.

The UAE is a key trading partner of the Philippines in the region and home to the second-largest Filipino diaspora after Saudi Arabia.

Some 700,000 overseas Filipino workers live and work in the UAE. Many are employed in the construction, healthcare and hospitality sectors.

Marcos was initially expected to meet representatives of the Filipino community, but his visit was shortened, with the Philippine Presidential Communications Office saying he would “immediately fly back to Manila to resume his personal supervision and inspection of the relief and reconstruction activities in communities devastated by six successive typhoons.”