Death from above: North Korea has started using balloons to drop cigarette butts on the South

National Post ^ | February 5, 2016 | Choe Sang-Hun

[TigerLikesRooster]

Death from above: North Korea has started using balloons to drop cigarette butts on the South

Choe Sang-Hun, The New York Times February 5, 2016 8:44 AM ET

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SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea likes to call South Korea a land of "political filth" and its leaders, including President Park Geun-hye, "human trash." Now, apparently to highlight its contempt, it has begun sending balloons into the South loaded with an unusual payload, the police here said Thursday: cigarette butts.

North and South Korea have escalated their propaganda war across their heavily armed border since Jan. 6, when the North conducted its fourth nuclear test.

The South turned on high-powered loudspeakers to blare pop songs and harsh criticism of the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, across the border. The North began sending balloons into the South loaded with leaflets.

The balloons were timed to detonate their payloads, scattering thousands of messages that, among other things, called Park a "filthy president."

Some of the timers failed to function, however, and the airborne cargo crashed onto rooftops and cars in South Korean villages near the border. Inspecting the debris, military and police personnel discovered that the balloons' payloads included things they had not seen before.

"We can confirm that they included cigarette butts," Kim Hak-young, a chief superintendent of the police, said Thursday, although he declined to provide any details.

[TigerLikesRooster]

P!

[butlerweave]

I thought the North ate the cigarette butts

[jessduntno]

“I thought the North ate the cigarette butts”

Only the garlic flavored butts.

[dhs12345]

There sure is a lot of jealousy from the North. You’d think that they’d abandon communism because apparently it isn’t working out that well for them. Then again, tin pot dictators don’t easily give up their power.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

I like big butts and I can not lie...

[Michael.SF.]

If they were really series they would drop the whole cigarette, we know how deadly that is!

[hadaclueonce]

Notice the North stayed away from the Nasty word.

[SpaceBar]

The existence of the current state of North Korea should be a source of embarrassment for the west. A vile excuse of a country which is basically a really big concentration camp. When it is finally liberated years from now, they will unearth vast landfills full of the dead. Silent testimony to the west's indifference. We will then also know and joke about the inner workings of the regime, like Jim Jong Un’s midday cognac enema and love for anything with Hello Kitty on it.

[PIF]

Only the inner circle and the military have cigarettes - every one else is busy stripping the bark off of trees for the day’s ration.

[Rusty0604]

I saw a headline saying they were pitching used toilet paper over there too.

[Insigne123]

They should send back bread & transistor radios

[CSM]

Hey, you should quit bashing the Norks! It is a utopian society that has completely solved the income inequality problem!

[lacrew]

[lacrew]

I saw a fascinating documentary on how the south gets information into the north. They actually use balloons...for leaflets.

But they also have ground smugglers who bring in DVDs, thumb drives, etc. And a very few Norks have (well hidden) devices to play these things.

Most of the people involved with this are former Norks who escaped...I can’t even imagine the culture shock of going from the north to the south.

[vpintheak]

I think the shock would be pretty close to a time traveller from 50-60 years ago showing up in an urban society.
It would seriously be hard to adapt.

[nuconvert]

” You’d think that they’d abandon communism because apparently it isn’t working out that well for them.”

It’s working out fine for Kim Jong Un - no one else matters

[dhs12345]

Yup. When people are disarmed and beaten down you can do anything.