North Korean Defector Launches 'Intelligent' Balloons to Home Country, Unveiling His Covert Manufacturing Hub
From a modest abode in Seoul, South Korea, an individual recognized as Choi (an alias used for his privacy and security), is amidst a series of retaliatory balloon exchanges that have escalated tensions along the Korean Peninsula.
For several years, South Korean activists and North Korean defectors have released balloons toward the North, packed with propaganda criticizing Kim Jong Un and containing K-pop music and South Korean TV shows – materials strictly proscribed in the impoverished, isolated nation.
In reaction, North Korean officials have launched more than a thousand balloons towards the South since May, carrying debris, waste, and insects – provoking anxiety as Kim Yo Jong, the influential sibling of North Korea's ruler, indicated potential turmoil.
In 2020, South Korea enacted a law penalizing the dissemination of anti-North Korean propaganda across the border. The previous progressive government in Seoul advocated for diplomacy with Pyongyang.
However, numerous activists ignored the law before it was invalidated by the court last year, with the court deeming it a substantial infringement on freedom of expression, following a complaint lodged by North Korean refugee-activists in the South.
Choi, a co-founder of the Committee for Reforming and Opening North Korea, is among the North Korean defectors pledging to persist in sending balloons to their homeland.
The balloons crafted by Choi's group from their Seoul home base are an enhancement over basic balloons that indiscriminately scatter their contents upon collision or rupture.
Equipped with GPS trackers, the activists can monitor these advanced "smart" balloons in real-time on journeys that often stretch over hundreds of kilometers. The group once tracked a balloon that ventured as far as China, according to their records.
The group's elongated shaped balloons measure approximately 40 to 42 feet (12 to 13 meters) in length, constructed of plastic and filled with hydrogen, as Choi explained. They carefully choose the plastic's thickness so it can withstand wind while allowing some hydrogen to leak out, thus controlling the balloons' altitude.
Small sensors and circuit boards attached to the balloons help the balloons travel at a specific altitude and distance. “If the balloons ascend too high above 4,000 meters, the dispenser won't function properly, so we keep an extra sack of leaflets to release when it rises too high in altitude,” Choi stated. “It's equipped to discharge hydrogen gas in accordance with altitude.”
“I firmly believe that North Korea can transform when the idolization of Kim Jong Un is shattered, and launching these smart balloons is the way to realize that,” Choi added.
“I take immense pride in the fact that we have played a part in undermining Kim Jong Un's deification,” he declared.
3D-printed components
The smart balloons deployed by Choi's group transport a range of payloads, some of which are automated.
In one model, the balloons carry a rudimentary loudspeaker resembling a camping lantern, anchored in place by zip ties and adhesive. Suspended from a cushion, battery pack, and a parachute, it broadcasts propaganda upon descent, with a message proclaiming, "North Korea can endure only if the Workers' Party is abolished."
The balloons may be adorned with an automated leaflet-dispersing device. They can carry around 1,500 propaganda leaflets – which the device expels rapidly with the aid of a timer and an altitude-adjusting device.
“We engineered a method to scatter the leaflets over a vast area, covering 31 to 186 miles (50 to 300 kilometers), making it extremely difficult for North Korean officials to gather them all," Choi explained. “With our system, we can control the leaflets to fall every 300 meters or every kilometer, ensuring that more people can see them.”
These attributes offer the group greater control over their devices than the typical balloons utilized by other activists. For instance, smart balloons are designed to initiate leaflet dispersal at particular points based on wind speed and direction, Choi noted – allegedly enabling targeted distribution. They can also regulate the frequency of the leaflets' dissemination.
While Choi purchases some components for the devices, he uses 3D printers to manufacture the others. He attributes his engineering education at a North Korean university before his defection to the South – along with YouTube videos and the remainder of his group – for assisting him in improving upon the existing balloons being dispatched North, prior to establishing the organization in 2013.
And this isn't his full-time occupation; he works elsewhere during the day, returns to the home after work, creates 3D-printed parts, and then assembles them for up to six hours per day. Each smart balloon costs around $700 to construct, he said.
Choi's motivation, he stated, stems from his family still residing in North Korea. And he reacted adversely to those in South Korea who have urged the activist groups to stop.
“To those who criticize our activities, it's like telling, ‘Let's assist in maintaining the dictatorship in South Korea,’" he stated, reminiscing about decades of authoritarianism in Seoul before the South's transition to democracy in the 1980s.
Intensifying Tensions
The balloon dispute has fueled tension between the two Koreas, which remain technically in a state of war – an armistice halted the Korean War that split the peninsula in 1953, but no formal peace Treaty was ever signed.
Relations between the two countries slightly improved in 2017 and 2018, enabling some South Korean elements, including parts of its pop culture, to infiltrate the closed nation.
Tensions in North Korea escalated over the years, with leader Kim aggressively engaging in weapons tests in disregard of United Nations sanctions and diplomatic negotiations collapsing, resulting in harsh restrictions to return.
Simultaneously, both nations are strengthening ties with their alliances – North Korea sealing a defense pact with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while South Korea expands collaborations with Japan and the United States.
On a recent day, following South Korea's detection of 350 trash balloons from North Korea, the military issued a warning about restarting shout-outs through loudspeakers at the border – something absent since 2018.
Previously, Seoul has employed giant speakers to disseminate propaganda and music across the heavily militarized border – encompassing news broadcasts and K-pop group Big Bang's hit track "Bang Bang Bang."
"Our military stands prepared to instantly commence anti-North Korea propaganda broadcasts and will maintain adaptability according to the strategic and operational circumstances," affirmed South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, stating that the decision to resume the loudspeakers hinges on North Korea's actions.
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