This year, North Korea has been engaging in what is known as Non-Kinetic Attacks on South Korea. Non-kinetic warfare generally refers to action against an adversary without a direct conventional military action, such as misinformation warfare, cyber attacks, psychological operations, electromagnetic offensives, etc.
Since May 2024, North Korea has been sending hundreds of balloons with garbage into South Korea. This is in direct response to operations where Christians have been sending Bibles attached to helium balloons. Balloons filled with garbage have been found in more than 5,500 locations nationwide and are interfering with the flight patterns of South Korea’s airports. One balloon caught fire after bursting on the rooftop of a residential building near Seoul’s Incheon International Airport. Runway operations have been halted 12 times in the last 6 months.
Besides the balloons, North Korea is also directly attacking the airport by jamming civil aircraft signals and sending false information deliberately intended to confuse GPS systems. This has happened 578 times between January and August this year and is a serious risk to tens of thousands of passengers flying into South Korea from around the world.
North Korea has increased these kind of attacks because they are cheap, effective, and prey on the vulnerability of a civil airport like Incheon International Airport, where 56 million people and 3.6 million tons of cargo pass through.
Unfortunately Incheon International Airport is less than 100km from North Korea, making it especially susceptible to non-Kinetic Warfare techniques.
In 2020, South Korea banned balloons used to carry Bibles and anti-North Korean propaganda, but the North Korea has continued their operations.
