North Korea releasing more trash balloons towards South: Seoul

Seoul, August 10

North Korea is again flying balloons, likely carrying trash, toward South, South Korea’s military says. This has added to a bizarre psychological warfare campaign amid growing tensions between the war-divided rivals.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) today said that the winds could carry the balloons to regions north of the South Korean capital, Seoul. Seoul City Hall and the Gyeonggi provincial government issued text alerts urging citizens to beware of objects dropping from the sky and report to the military or police if they spotted any balloons. There were no immediate reports of injuries or property damage.

In what is being described as a retaliation toward South Korean civilian activists flying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the border, North Korea has flown more than 2,000 balloons carrying waste paper, cloth scraps and cigarette butts towards South in the recent weeks. Trash carried by at least one North Korean balloon fell on the South Korean presidential compound late last month, raising worries about the vulnerability of key South Korean facilities. The balloon contained no dangerous material and no one was injured, said South Korea’s presidential security service. — AP