Trash balloons became a recurring fixture in South Korean skies across multiple days in June, carrying various waste into civilian areas in a unique form of cross-border antagonism. South Korea pledged to respond with “unbearable” measures after the North’s initial balloon barrage in May, opting to temporarily turn on loudspeaker broadcasts at the border after suspending an inter-Korean military agreement.

The loudspeakers broadcast anti-regime messages, Korean pop songs and other data and entertainment in a unique form of psychological warfare that has triggered violence from the DPRK in the past, though the ROK has only publicized