TRASH-CARRYING BALLOON. This photo, provided by the Incheon Fire Service, shows a North Korean balloon carrying trash found in Incheon, 27 kilometers west of Seoul, on Sunday (June 2, 2024). Pyongyang sent 600 trash balloons, aside from the 260 sent earlier this week. (Yonhap)
SEOUL – North Korea has sent around 600 balloons carrying trash to South Korea, Seoul's military said Sunday.
The move was taken despite a warning that the South would take "unendurably" painful measures against such provocative acts.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it had detected around 600 balloons that floated across the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas and fell in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province since 8 p.m. Saturday.
The balloons carried various pieces of trash, such as cigarette butts, paper and plastic bags, just like the previous balloons, according to the JCS.
North Korea previously sent around 260 balloons carrying trash and excrement to the South on Tuesday and Wednesday after it warned of a "tit-for-tat action" against anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent by the South's activists.
The JCS advised people not to touch the objects and report them to nearby military or police authorities. It also warned of possible danger from the balloons.
The military dispatched teams to recover the debris instead of shooting down the balloons, as the possibility of them carrying toxic chemicals cannot be completely ruled out.
The Seoul city government also said Sunday that it will operate an emergency center 24 hours daily to respond to such objects.
The North's balloon launches come after recent provocative steps, including the botched attempt to launch a spy satellite on Monday.
The country staged GPS jamming attacks in waters near South Korea's northwestern border islands for the fourth straight day Saturday.
North Korea also fired a barrage of artillery from super-large multiple rocket launchers toward the East Sea on Thursday in a drill that it said was to demonstrate its resolve to conduct a preemptive strike against South Korea.
South Korea's presidential office is set to hold a meeting of the National Security Council later Sunday to discuss the North's balloon provocation.
Seoul's unification ministry warned Friday it will take "unendurably" painful measures against North Korea if it continues to stage "irrational" provocative acts.
South Korea may consider staging psychological warfare against North Korea, including military authorities' resumption of loudspeaker broadcasting along the border or the sending of leaflets critical of the North's regime. (Yonhap)
