This photo shows workers on Wednesday morning handling waste contained in a balloon flying from North Korea near the Jeondong Theater in Jung-gu, central Seoul,. (Yonhap)

North Korea again launched balloons presumed to be carrying trash toward South Korea, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Wednesday.

The JCS said the balloons appeared to be traveling toward the northern part of Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul, and advised the public to not touch fallen balloons and report them to the military or police.

North Korea has launched more than 3,000 trash-carrying balloons since late May, including some 500 such balloons Sunday, in a tit-for-tat move against anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent by North Korean defectors and activists in the South.

In response, South Korea has resumed full-scale propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts toward the North. (Yonhap)