When North Korea sent hundreds of garbage-laden balloons across the border with South Korea last week, the action sparked emergency alerts and 24-hour media coverage in the neighboring country.
But while many South Koreans probably didn’t dwell on the incident for long, for residents living near the fortified border, it was the latest episode in a worrying rise in tensions between the Koreas.
“Some people consider the incident a problem in someone else’s neighborhood,” said Yoon Seol-hyun, owner of a guesthouse and travel agency in the border city of Paju, urging all South Koreans to pay attention and help the calm the situation.
Friction has increased as the South responds to the balloons by resuming military activities along the demarcation line. Seoul has not ruled out the return of loudspeakers to carry out propaganda on the border with the North.
The border area is popular with local and foreign tourists keen to get a glimpse of the isolated North, but Yoon said his business in Paju, which is about 35 km north of the capital Seoul, has been hampered by rising tensions.
No Hyun-ki, 60, another resident of Paju, is also worried about the recent inter-Korean retaliation.
“So there is no choice… but to feel afraid that North Korean artillery might fly towards this place,” No said, describing Paju as “the most tense city.”
The two Koreas have remained technically at war since an armistice agreement ended fighting in the 1950-1953 Korean War.
Their militaries face off across the inter-Korean border, and North Korea has launched missiles and rockets aimed at the South and routinely threatens to annihilate its neighbor.
North Korea has said it will suspend sending trash balloons, but has promised to resume the practice if leaflets critical of the country are dropped again from the South.
Source: CNN Brasil
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