Balloon scare: North Korean defector sends ‘smart’ balloons from South Korea to his home country

Seoul, South Korea
CNN
—

Next to a desk littered with solder shards, loose wires and electronic components, Choi’s computer screen tracks wind conditions and the GPS location of an unlikely package: a giant “smart” balloon bound for North Korea.

Choi, who lives in a small apartment in the South Korean capital and is being identified by CNN under a pseudonym for his privacy and safety, is one of the parties involved in a tit-for-tat balloon fight between North and South Korea that is raising tensions on the Korean peninsula.

South Korean activists and defectors have for years sent USB sticks filled with propaganda material critical of dictator Kim Jong Un, as well as K-pop songs and South Korean TV shows, to North Korea – all of which are strictly banned in the impoverished and deeply isolated country.

In response, North Korean authorities have launched more than 1,000 balloons loaded with garbage, waste and earthworms towards South Korea since May, raising tensions with North Korea’s powerful supreme leader Kim Yo Jong warning of “trouble”.

In 2020, South Korea passed a law making it a crime to send anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets across the border as the previous liberal government pushed for negotiations with North Korea.

But many activists opposed the ruling until last year, following a lawsuit filed by defector North Korean activists in South Korea, a court ruled it was invalid, saying the law was an excessive restriction on freedom of speech.

Choi, co-founder of the North Korean Reform and Opening Committee, is among the defectors who have vowed to continue sending balloons to their homeland.

The balloons that Choi’s group assembled in an apartment in Seoul go a step further than primitive balloons, whose contents fly randomly when they crash or burst.

Fitted with GPS trackers, the next generation of “smart” balloons can travel hundreds of kilometres and be monitored in real time by activists — the group has once tracked one that drifted all the way to China, according to its data.

The group’s elliptical balloons are about 12-13 meters (about 40-42 feet) long, made of plastic and filled with hydrogen, Choi said, adding that the thickness of the plastic was carefully chosen to withstand winds and allow the hydrogen to leak out naturally, allowing them to control the balloon’s altitude.

Sensors and small circuit boards attached to the balloon help it fly at a certain altitude and distance. “If the balloon gets too high above 4,000 meters, the dispenser doesn’t work properly, so we have extra bags of flyers to drop if it gets too high,” Choi said. “They’re programmed to release hydrogen gas depending on the altitude.”

“I believe North Korea can change if the deification of Kim Jong Un is torn down, and sending this smart balloon is a way to make that happen,” Choi added.

“I am extremely proud to have contributed to dismantling the idolization of Kim Jong Un.”

The smart balloons sent by Choi’s group are carrying a variety of payloads, some of which are automated.

In one version, the balloon is fitted with a small improvised speaker, like a camping lantern, secured with cable ties and glue, a cushion, a battery pack and a parachute, and blares propaganda as it floats to the ground, one message declaring that “North Korea cannot survive unless it abolishes the Workers’ Party.”

Balloons may also be fitted with automatic leaflet-dispersing devices, capable of carrying around 1,500 promotional leaflets, which are released in rapid succession with the help of timers and altitude-regulating devices.

“We have devised a way to distribute the leaflets over a wide area of ​​50 to 300 kilometers (about 31 to 186 miles), making it very difficult for the North Korean authorities to retrieve them all,” Choi said. “Our system can be controlled to drop the leaflets every 300 meters or every kilometer, so more people can see them.”

These features give the group more control over the devices than the standard balloons used by other activists. For example, the smart balloons are designed to spit leaflets at specific points based on wind speed and direction, Choi said, allowing them to distribute leaflets within targeted areas. They can also control how often leaflets are distributed.

Choi bought some of the device’s parts and 3D-printed the rest. He said he studied engineering at a North Korean university before defecting to the South, and that YouTube videos and friends helped him improve existing balloons that had been sent to North Korea before founding his group in 2013.

This isn’t his full-time job: He works elsewhere during the day, then returns to his apartment after work, where he 3D prints the parts and assembles them, spending up to six hours a day. He says each smart balloon costs about $700 to make.

Choi said he was motivated because his family still lives in North Korea, and he was outraged by people in South Korea who urged the activist group to stop its activities.

“For those who criticize our activities, it’s like saying, ‘Let’s help maintain South Korea’s dictatorship,'” he said, referring to decades of authoritarianism in Seoul before South Korea democratized in the 1980s.

While the balloon dispute has raised tensions between the two Koreas, technically the two countries are still at war: The Korean War that divided the peninsula ended with an armistice in 1953 but no formal peace treaty has been signed.

Relations between the two countries warmed somewhat in 2017 and 2018, allowing Korean elements, including some of South Korea’s pop culture, to seep into the reclusive nation.

But the situation in North Korea deteriorated in the years since, as Kim Jong Un stepped up weapons testing in defiance of UN sanctions and diplomatic talks collapsed, leading to the reintroduction of strict rules in the country.

Meanwhile, both countries are strengthening ties with their respective partners, with North Korea recently signing a defense agreement with Russian President Putin and South Korea strengthening cooperation with Japan and the United States.

After South Korea discovered 350 new trash balloons from North Korea on Tuesday, the country’s military warned it may resume loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts at the border, something it hasn’t done since 2018.

Over the past few years, Seoul has used giant speakers to broadcast propaganda and music across the heavily militarised border, including news reports and the hit “Bang Bang Bang” by K-pop group Big Bang.

“Our military is ready to immediately begin anti-North Korea propaganda broadcasts and will act flexibly depending on the strategic and operational situation,” the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said, adding that the resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts “depends on North Korea’s actions.”