North Korea sends 600 new trash-filled balloons to South Korea

North Korea has sent about 600 new balloons filled with trash, ranging from cigarette butts to plastic, across its border, which are collected as they hit land. Since the campaign began on Tuesday, some 900 balloons have been launched, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, which initially reported some 260 balloons filled with trash, including used batteries, cigarette butts and animal feces.

“North Korea has started launching balloons filled with trash towards South Korea again”since Saturday evening 8 p.m. (11 a.m. GMT) declared the Joint Staff in a press release. “Approximately 600 balloons have been identified, with 20 to 50 balloons per hour moving through the air” Sunday June 2 around 10 a.m. local time, he specifies.

The balloons landed in South Korea’s northern provinces, including the capital, Seoul, and the adjacent Gyeonggi region, which together are home to nearly half of the South’s population.

Seoul condemned this action on Wednesday, describing it as “low floor”and South Korea’s unification ministry warned Friday of countermeasures if Pyongyang does not stop these provocations “irrational”.

This time the balloons contain “waste such as cigarette butts, scraps of paper, pieces of fabric and plastic”the general staff announced on Sunday, noting that“no dangerous substance has[vait] been found ».

“Our military carries out surveillance and reconnaissance operations of the balloon launch sites, tracks them by aerial reconnaissance and collects fallen debris, giving priority to public safety”he added.

Call for caution

The general staff asked the public to avoid “all contact” with this waste. The Seoul municipality sent an alert message to residents on Saturday after the detection of new balloons, on the presence of a “Unidentified object believed to be North Korean propaganda leaflets”.

Pyongyang claimed at the start of the week that its balloons, “sincere gifts”aimed to respond to the sending into its territory of balloons loaded with propaganda leaflets against the leader, Kim Jong-un.

North Korea has long been exasperated by these actions carried out by South Korean activists, who sometimes also send money, rice or USB sticks of South Korean television dramas.