North Korea has launched more trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea, continuing a provocative campaign following similar actions earlier in the week. According to South Korea’s military, this is Pyongyang’s retaliation for activists in the South sending anti-North Korean leaflets across the border. The Defense Ministry of South Korea has not provided specific details about the number of balloons detected or landed but has advised the public to be cautious of falling objects and to report any suspected items from North Korea to military or police authorities.
In response to the balloon launches, South Korea’s military has deployed chemical rapid response and explosive clearance teams, recovering debris from approximately 260 North Korean balloons found across the country from Tuesday night to Wednesday. These balloons carried various types of trash and manure but no hazardous materials such as chemical, biological, or radioactive substances. Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, confirmed that the balloon launches were in retaliation to the leafleting campaigns, fulfilling the North’s threat to “scatter mounds of wastepaper and filth” in the South.
This act adds to North Korea’s recent series of provocative measures, including a failed spy satellite launch and multiple short-range missile tests aimed at showcasing its preemptive attack capabilities against South Korea.
