North Korea sends another wave of garbage balloons to South Korea and Seoul responds

(CNN) — South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said North Korea again sent hundreds of balloons filled with garbage to South Korea, days after South Korean activists sent balloons containing K-pop and K-drama content on USB sticks to their neighbouring North.

The JCS said North Korea had sent about 330 balloons carrying garbage bags since Saturday night, about 80 of which fell on South Korean territory.

South Korea’s JCS said in a statement on Sunday that analysis of the balloons showed they contained waste paper and plastic and did not contain any substances posing a safety hazard.

According to CNN’s count, about 1,060 balloons from North Korea have landed in South Korean territory since May 28.

Last week, Pyongyang claimed to have sent a total of 3,500 balloons filled with 15 tonnes of garbage to its neighbour, according to state media KCNA, citing North Korea’s Deputy Defence Minister Kim Kang Il.

North Korea’s Deputy Defense Minister Kim Kang Il said the balloons were a “strict retaliation” to South Korea’s years-long practice of sending balloons containing leaflets against North Korea in the opposite direction.

Kim said last week that North Korea would “temporarily stop dumping garbage at the border,” but on Thursday South Korean activists sent balloons to their northern neighbor carrying hundreds of thousands of leaflets denouncing leader Kim Jong Un and 5,000 USB flash drives loaded with K-pop and K-dramas.

South Korea’s JCS said on Saturday night that North Korea was “promoting its suspected garbage balloons” and warned that the balloons could drift south because of wind direction. It advised the public to be cautious of falling objects, avoid contact with fallen balloons, and report any balloons found to the nearest military base or police.

South Korea resumes megaphone broadcasts to North Korea

The South Korean military reiterated a public address broadcast to North Korea this Sunday afternoon (local time), the Seoul Joint Chiefs of Staff reported.

The emissions are the first in six years since the devices were removed in 2018 following a summit between the two Koreas, and come in response to North Korea sending hundreds of other balloons filled with trash toward its territory.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea was “fully responsible” for the current situation and urged the North to “immediately cease such frivolous acts as sending garbage balloons.”

He cautioned that whether the military broadcasts any other messages over the public address system depends entirely on North Korea’s actions.

CNN’s Mike Valerio in Seoul contributed to this report.