Tensions are escalating on the Korean Peninsula as North Korea has launched approximately 500 balloons carrying trash into South Korea over the past 24 hours, according to a Reuters report. These balloons have caused significant disruptions, including grounding flights and sparking a fire on a residential building’s roof.
This latest move is part of Pyongyang’s ongoing propaganda campaign targeting North Korean defectors and activists in the South, who frequently send balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets, medicine, money, and USB sticks loaded with K-pop videos and dramas.
A suspected balloon, reportedly, led to a two-hour suspension of take-offs and landings at Seoul’s Gimpo Airport on Wednesday evening, according to an official from the Korea Airports Corporation. Additionally, balloons have disrupted traffic at Incheon, South Korea’s main international airport, several times in recent weeks.
In Gyeonggi province near Seoul, a balloon caught fire on the roof of a residential building. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, as confirmed by an official from the Gyeonggi Northern Fire and Disaster Headquarters.
South Korea’s military has revealed that some of the balloons are equipped with timed poppers capable of causing fires. Lee Sung-jun, a spokesperson for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, explained the mechanism at a briefing.
Lee Sung-jun told Reuters, “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.”
As of Thursday, 480 balloons containing mostly paper and plastic trash had landed in South Korea. On Wednesday, some balloons even landed near the heavily guarded presidential office in Seoul, intensifying security concerns.
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