North Korea has launched hundreds of trash balloons into South Korean airspace over the past 24 hours, causing major flight disruptions.
These balloons are part of Pyongyang’s propaganda campaign targeting North Korean defectors and activists in the south who send political messages, such as anti-Pyongyang leaflets and world news, to their northern neighbors.
North Korea has sent hundreds of trash balloons carrying wastepaper, cigarette butts, manure, and other waste in the last few months.
More than 480 balloons have been reported to have landed in South Korea, mostly carrying paper and plastic trash.
However, North Korea has now begun sending some balloons equipped with timed poppers that have caused fires.
“A timer is attached to the trash balloons, which has the effect of popping the balloons and spreading the trash after a certain period of time has passed,” Lee Sung-jun, a spokesman for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a briefing.
In a province near Seoul, it was reported that one of these balloons caught fire on top of a residential building.
Moreover, these balloons have been causing disruptions at South Korea’s main international airport for several weeks.
On Wednesday night, takeoffs and landings were suspended for two hours at Seoul’s Gimpo Airport.
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Some of those balloons were also found near the heavily guarded presidential office in Seoul.
Last month, South Korea suspended a 2018 military agreement with North Korea after promising “unbearable” retaliation for its trash balloon campaign.
