Peninsula instability serves no party's interests

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are rising markedly, with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea having upped the ante in their confrontation across the border.

The situation took a notable turn for the worse last week after the DPRK started sending hundreds of trash-carrying balloons to its southern neighbor, in what it claimed was a tit-for-tat response to the ROK's years-long practice of sending balloons with anti-Pyongyang leaflets.

ROK officials say they have no legal grounds to ban private citizens from flying balloons to the north, given the country's constitutional court last year already invalidated a law criminalizing such leafleting, on the ground that it violates free speech.