Following an incident on the 15th of last month, North Korea again launched approximately 700 filth balloons filled with trash, cigarette butts, used paper, manure, and other debris on June 1st and 2nd, targeting not only Seoul and the Gyeonggi area but also the Chungcheong and Gyeongbuk regions. Additionally, from May 29th for three days, North Korea disrupted Global Positioning System (GPS) signals around the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea.

The consequences have been severe. On June 1st, filth balloons landed at Incheon International Airport, causing a 54-minute suspension of aircraft takeoffs and landings. Some balloons damaged car doors or caused fires by falling on vehicle tires. There were also heightened tensions among residents, who feared the balloons might contain biological or chemical weapons.

The GPS signal disruption has also had serious impacts. For three days when  North Korea emitted stronger jamming signals towards the northwestern islands, receivers for communication were paralyzed. As a result, some fishermen had to give up going to sea, because they may not be able to locate the fishing grounds for their fishing boats or could accidentally cross over to the north of the NLL. This interference also affected passenger ships navigating the Incheon waters, causing repeated malfunctions in navigation systems and stranding tourists.

In response, the government decided to suspend the full effect of the September 19th military agreement until mutual trust between the two Koreas is restored. This decision allows for the resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts to North Korea and military exercises near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL). Prime Minister Han Duck-soo stated in a cabinet meeting, "By suspending the full effect of the September 19th military agreement, we can conduct military exercises near the MDL and take more sufficient and immediate actions against North Korea's provocations.“

The loudspeakers were dismantled under the 2018 September 19th military agreement. These loudspeakers were a powerful psychological warfare tool aimed at border areas, to which North Korea had reacted sensitively. In 2015, when South Korea resumed loudspeaker broadcasts in response to North Korea's landmine and shelling provocations, North Korea hastily proposed high-level inter-Korean talks. Before their removal, North Korea consistently demanded the dismantling of the loudspeakers during military talks.

It is also known that North Korea feels threatened by the balloons launched by private organizations in South Korea. Some experts on North Korean issues believe that these balloons provoked North Korea's filth balloons. Some North Korean defector groups have already launched balloons towards the North, containing leaflets criticizing the Kim Jong-un regime, 2,000 one-dollar bills, and 5,000 USBs with songs by singers Na Hoon-a and Lim Young-woong.

Criticism has been ongoing that the government's response to North Korea's provocations has been very limited. In response to missile provocations, the government has only been able to launch similar weapons off the east coast, strengthen joint US-South Korea military exercises, participate in emergency meetings of the UN Security Council (UNSC), or expand financial sanctions against North Korea.

However, with the government's decision to take a strong stance against North Korea's large-scale "filth balloon" terrorism and GPS signal jamming attacks, the standoff on the Korean Peninsula is expected to change dramatically. Experts on North Korean issues predict that, with North Korea's unilateral annulment of the September 19th military agreement last November and its designation of South Korea as a hostile belligerent country, the possibility of conflict and clashes has increased. Consequently, the anxiety and concerns of residents in border areas are growing daily.