North Korea’s trash balloons fall near South’s presidential office

YEREVAN, JULY 24, ARMENPRESS. Trash-laden North Korean balloons were found on the grounds of South Korea’s presidential office compound, officials said Wednesday, the latest in a series of incidents that have raised tensions and rhetoric on the Korean Peninsula, CNN reports.

“No harmful or contaminating substances were found from an analysis by the response team,” the presidential security service said later in a statement.

More than 3,000 North Korean balloons, often filled with garbage such as cigarette butts, discarded batteries and even manure have fallen in the South since May, according to South Korean officials – who have responded by resuming loudspeaker broadcasts of propaganda and entertainment like K-pop songs along the demilitarized zone (DMZ), the report adds.

“North Korea’s actions clearly violate international law and seriously threaten the safety of our citizens,” JCS said in a statement after an earlier balloon incident.

For many years, South Korean activists and North Korean defectors have sent balloons to the North, loaded with material criticizing dictator Kim Jong Un and USB sticks filled with K-pop songs and South Korean television shows – all strictly prohibited in the impoverished, highly isolated nation.

According to CNN, in a statement carried by North Korean state media earlier this month, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, said dozens of balloons, “dirty leaflets” and other material sent from South Korea were again found in her country and near the border.