South Korean President Yoon has maintained a tough stance against North Korea, leading to a deterioration in bilateral relations. This has resulted in a unique form of protest, with South Korean activists sending balloons carrying anti-North Korean messages and media to the North, to which North Koreans have retaliated with their own balloon launches, creating a 'battle of balloons'.
Yoon has maintained a hard line against Pyongyang, leading to relations to sour and to a Korean battle of the balloonsto counter security threats from North Korea, amid Pyongyang’s continued push to develop its missile and nuclear weapons programmes. There are nearly 30,000 American troops stationed in South Korea, and America’s largest overseas military base, Camp Humphreys, is located there.
Yoon’s unannounced late-night address on Tuesday, when he declared martial law to eradicate “shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces”, took the US by surprise, and rifts in the relationship with South Korea are beginning to show.Military officials from the US and South Korea were due to meet on Wednesday to discuss nuclear deterrence issues but the meeting was postponed, a US defence official told.
The former prosecutor, 63, won the presidency in 2022 with a threadbare margin of 0.8 per cent. The vote was widely seen as a referendum on his predecessor, Moon Jae-in, than an endorsement of Yoon.He has been unable to address a nationwide doctors’ strike against medical reforms that has continued for nearly a year, leading to cancelled surgeries and other treatments at hospitals.
“The opposition liberal parties only need eight votes from the conservative party to pass their impeachment motion. And were the motion to fail, South Korean citizens are likely to stage mass rallies demanding that President Yoon resigns or is impeached.”Retired US Colonel Cedric Leighton said any instability in South Korea “has major ramifications for our Indo-Pacific policies”, adding that US troops in the country are geared for a “fight tonight” scenario against North Korea.
KOREAN RELATIONS BALLOON BATTLE POLITICAL TENSIONS MILITARY PRESENCE NORTH KOREA WEAPONS PROGRAM
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