Seoul: North Korea has sent around 240 balloons carrying trash toward South Korea and about 10 of them landed in the South, officials said on Sunday.
As of 10 a.m., there had been no balloons detected floating midair, after North Korea launched such balloons Saturday, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the South Korean military.
A very few balloons landed in the northern areas of Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul, as North Korea appears to have sent them despite winds blowing in northern and northeastern directions.
Earlier in the day, Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency said it has received two reports related to the North’s balloons.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the balloons carried scraps of paper and plastic bottles and did not contain any hazardous substances.
North Korea resumed its “balloon campaign” on Saturday for the first time in more than two weeks. It also marked the “11th launch of trash-filled balloons” this year.
In July, some balloons reportedly launched by North Korea landed in South Korea’s presidential office compound in Seoul.
North Korea has launched more than 3,600 trash balloons since May 28 in a tit-for-tat move against balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets flown by North Korean defectors in South Korea, officials said.
In response to the North’s campaign, South Korea has been conducting full-scale anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts daily through its border loudspeakers since mid-July.
–IANS
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