Seoul activists create’smart balloons’ to transmit messages to North Korea

In the balloon warfare between North Korea and South Korean activists, one Seoul-based group has honed its tech expertise to develop balloons capable of dispersing leaflets and electronic speakers hundreds of kilometres across the border.

Business Standard 6-7 minutes 11/06/2024

Created using 3D printers and components that are sourced online, and often equipped with GPS tracking such as “smart balloons” can cost up to $1000 each.

Every month, or once between spring and autumn when the winds are favorable to north, the clandestine group is seen flying the balloons under the darkness. The intention is to bring cargoes farther in North Korea, including over the capital city of Pyongyang and the further distances now being feasible. One balloon has traveled up to China.

“Our smart balloons are expensive but we think they’re a hundred times more powerful than balloons flown by other groups,” said a member of the group known as “The Committee for Reform and Opening up of Joson”. Joson is a different word that refers to North Korea.

This group is comprised of about 30 members in its core and is funded through the members’ own funds and donations, hasn’t previously disclosed its activities to the media.

Balloon tactics have taken center of the icy relationship with the other Koreas since the end of this month. North Korea, in recent times a rare deploying of balloons that has sent more than 1,000 balloons to the south – mostly laden with trash, and a few that were reportedly filled with animal Faeces.

This has heightened tensions between the two countries that are technically still at war even after that period of 1950-1953. Korean War ended in an armistice accord, but there was no peace treaty. South Korea on Sunday resumed broadcasts on loudspeakers directed at north Korea North in the very first instance since.

The effectiveness of the balloons is the subject of debate without any independent confirmation possible of where they will land or what the average North Koreans might think about the content.

Another person in the group claimed he was inspired by Pyongyang’s protests about balloons coming from South Korea, saying it is proof that activists’ balloons as well as their payloads have an impact.

The group’s members refused to be identified, concerned about being harassed by South Koreans critical of such activists, the possibility of a arrest on the part of South Korean authorities or reprisals from North Korean agents.

The payload

The balloons are filled with hydrogen. smart balloons from the group carry payloads up to 7.5 kilograms.

In a small apartment in Seoul the group uses 3D printers to make white plastic boxes, as well as connective components.

Circuit boards, wires, and timers purchased via Chinese as well as South Korean e-commerce websites are employed to construct devices that regulate the distribution of the contents inside the balloons.

The majority of balloons are pre-programmed to disperse 1,500 leaflets 25 at a given time considering the flight path that is expected as well as the wind, as well as other conditions.

This year, several balloons carry speakers that are connected to small parachutes that blast pre-recorded messages that are critical of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

A typical package could include six speakers, and six other bundles, each with an e-book as well as a short-wave radio according to the founder of the group. He quit northwestern Europe in North in the late 1990s and was in charge of the technical development.

The lantern-shaped speakers are made from a waterproof box that is surrounded by lithium-ion batteries as well as an amplifier. When the speaker is deployed, three tiny rainbow-colored parachutes above the speaker will open, and foam bases help absorb any shocks that land.

They play for 15 minutes North Korean songs and messages recorded with the North Korean accent and pause for 30 minutes before starting again. The batteries are able to last for five days.

“Get rid of the Workers’ Party, then Joson can survive. Kim Jong Un is a traitor that opposes unification,” the first part of the audio says.

Another major technological advancement in the last two years is the use of altimeter-linked valves that automatically stop the balloons from flying too high, which results in an easier flight however, the balloons remain dependent on the conditions and flight paths are not controlled.

The balloons have a 50-60 percent chance of reaching beyond a few dozen kilometers north from the frontier. This is better than balloons of the past which often don’t travel this far and can easily get off track and can only drop a handful of leaflets.

Pushback

Some groups from the South frequently dispatch balloons North according to activists.

It is believed that the South Korean government once sent its own leaflets, but it stopped doing this over 10 years before. The government imposed an end to the practice in 2020 due to national security reasons. However, when a court upheld the ban in September, claiming that it did not respect the constitutional right of freedom of speech, groups ramped balloon flights from the South.

The South Korean Unification Ministry said it respects the decision of the court. It will take the appropriate steps when necessary, the ministry said without further details.

North Korean officials have called South Korean leaflet activists “human scum” and in the year 2020 destroyed an inter-Korean office in a dispute over leaflets. In 2022, they claimed the “alien things” could carry coronavirus.

The flights have also been criticized within South Korea where some residents have fought with activists who claim that the balloons cause conflict and pose a threat to the balloons.

The smart balloon group claimed South Korean marines near the border have warned that they should not conduct launches. The military has stated that the troops are not entitled to limit balloon launches conducted by private parties.