North Korea released around 40 trash-laden balloons from Thursday night to early Friday, its 32nd launch this year, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday.
The military reported that about 30 objects had been found across Gyeonggi Province and the greater Seoul area by Friday morning.
“These items, including anti-South propaganda leaflets, have been analyzed and confirmed to contain no hazardous materials,” the JCS said in a statement.
The release of waste-filled balloons came just days after a Tuesday press statement by Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who claimed that “various kinds of political agitation leaflets and dirty items” had been sent from South Korea and scattered near North Korea’s southern border.
Since late May, North Korea has been sending balloons filled with waste, trash, and anti-South Korean leaflets, following a warning on May 25 from North Korean Vice Defense Minister Kim Kang-il of "tit-for-tat action" against anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets launched by South Korean civic groups across the inter-Korean border.
However, South Korea’s Unification Ministry has dismissed North Korea’s claim that its balloon launches are retaliatory.
During a National Assembly audit in October, Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho stated that North Korea’s trash-filled balloon launches are primarily intended to "sow division in public opinion and create a sense of anxiety among Korean people," refuting Pyongyang’s narrative.
