North Korea sends trash-filled balloons toward South Korea, several land near Seoul

North Korea has sent trash-filled balloons toward South Korea with several landing on the latter’s soil, Seoul said on Sunday.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that some 240 trash-packed balloons were sent by Pyongyang, and of them were landed in the South, Seoul-based Yonhap news agency reported.

Very few balloons landed in the northern areas of Gyeonggi province that surrounds Seoul.

The balloons, according to the JCS, carried scraps of paper and plastic bottles and did not contain any hazardous substances.

Pyongyang resumed its balloon campaign Saturday for the first time in more than two weeks, marking the 11th launch of trash-filled balloons this year.

In a tit-for-tat move, North Korea has launched over 3,600 trash balloons since May 28 in response to balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets flown by North Korean defectors in South Korea.

South Korea, for its part, has been conducting full-scale anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts daily through its border loudspeakers since mid-July.