North sends more trash-laden balloons toward South in eighth round of launches: JCS

North Korea resumed launching trash-laden balloons toward South Korea in its eighth round of such launches this year, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Thursday.

A firefighter clears a waste balloon that fell on the roof of a villa in Hakik-dong, Incheon, on June 9. [NEWS1]

North Korea resumed launching trash-laden balloons toward South Korea in its eighth round of such launches this year, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Thursday.

The JCS said that the balloons appear to be traveling toward the northern part of Gyeonggi, advising the public not to touch the fallen balloons and to report them to the military or police.

Pyongyang previously sent a total of around 2,000 waste balloons in seven rounds between May 28 and June 26 in response to the distribution of anti-North Korea leaflets by defector groups and activists in South Korea.

South Korea conducted live-fire exercises at artillery ranges near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) on July 2 for the first time in six years following its decision to suspend participation in an inter-Korean military pact that banned such activities.

South Korea’s decision to suspend participation in the inter-Korean pact came soon after the North jammed GPS signals along the inter-Korean border in late May and launched trash-laden balloons across the border, which Seoul has criticized as violating the armistice that ended active hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]