North Korea's Kim Yo-jong says the filthy balloons were a gift of sincerity

On the 29th, Kim Yo-jong, vice director of the Workers' Party of North Korea, commented on the "filthy balloons" that were being launched toward South Korea, characterizing them as "the people's freedom of expression," and calling for the "stopping of the scattering."
"It is difficult to stop the distribution of leaflets to North Korea, so we ask for the understanding of the South Korean government," he said. This is an ironic response to the South Korean government's failure to prohibit the distribution of leaflets to North Korea as a matter of freedom of expression.
The North Korean side also claims that they sent the balloons to "guarantee the South Korean people's right to know." In a statement released through the North's Korean Central News Agency on the same day, Kim said that the Joint Chiefs of Staff had notified the North of its actions.
In response to the criticism that this is a violation of international law, he raised the question of whether "freedom of expression" and "international law" are determined by the direction in which the balloons fly.
Furthermore, he said that the distribution of leaflets by defector groups against North Korea was "a political campaign that slanders our ideology and system."
"They tried to spread to us their unhealthy ideas, which spewed forth from the mud and leaflets that are the filth of Korean propaganda," he said, adding, "The Koreans who mock our people must be defeated.
He also described the filthy balloons as "a heartfelt and sincere gift to the ghosts of liberal democracy who are calling for the guarantee of freedom of expression," and said, "We must continue to pick them up."
"We will respond to each case with tens of times the amount of filthy trash (flyers) that South Korea distributes in the future," he said.
On the 26th, North Korea announced through a statement by Vice Defense Minister Kim Kang-il that it was taking measures against the distribution of leaflets by defector groups against North Korea.
The North Korean government has made clear its intention to fight back. From the evening of the 28th, it has sent large balloons containing livestock manure and garbage toward the South Korean side. According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as of 4 p.m. on the 29th,
More than 260 balloons were set up.