The defense ministry has strongly denied that it considered striking North Korea’s trash balloon launch point to provoke a response, a suspicion that many people have raised since President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched martial law attempt.

In a notice to reporters on Monday, the ministry said it is making its position known because of recent reports misrepresenting the military’s normal activities as attempts to provoke the North. 

The ministry said that since the end of 2024, some have questioned normal military activities and sought to link them to the martial law incident, thus causing public anxiety and casting doubt on the country’s military activities.

It also criticized people for taking issue with South Korea’s decision to suspend an inter-Korean military pact and resume its anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts.

The ministry defended those measures as legitimate responses to the North’s trash balloon campaign. 

The opposition bloc and some media reports have suggested that the military intentionally engaged in activities to provoke a skirmish with North Korea in connection with Yoon’s short-lived martial law bid.