Rooftop blaze ignites after North sends more trash balloons to South Korea

North Korea sent over more than 480 trash-carrying balloons to South Korea on Wednesday, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Thursday.

Firefighters extinguish a blaze which occurred after an object suspected to be a trash-carrying balloon from North Korea exploded on Wednesday in Goyang, Gyeonggi. [NEWS1]

North Korea sent over more than 480 trash-carrying balloons to South Korea on Wednesday, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Thursday.

As of 8 a.m. Thursday, the South Korean military identified approximately 500 North Korean trash balloons, and no additional balloons are currently being tracked in the sky.

On Wednesday, Pyongyang floated the trash-laden balloons from early morning, around 6 a.m., until late evening. The balloons primarily carried paper and waste materials such as plastic.

The JCS said that no hazardous substances were detected.

Wednesday’s balloon release marked Pyongyang's tenth trash-laden balloon launch this year, following its ninth launch three days earlier on Sunday.

On Wednesday, the trash-filled balloons were found at the presidential office compound, the U.S. military base in Yongsan District, central Seoul and the National Assembly in western Seoul.

Around 2:36 p.m. on the same day, a rooftop of a residential building in Goyang, Gyeonggi, caught fire after an object suspected to be a waste balloon burst and ignited into flames.

Twenty-eight firefighters and 11 fire trucks extinguished the blaze within 25 minutes, with no casualties reported. The fire burned an area of six square meters (64 square feet).

Fire authorities believe a detonator attached to a string connecting the balloon and waste-carrying bags caused the rooftop fire. The device makes the balloon explode after a specific time has passed.

The Seoul Regional Office of Aviation intermittently prohibited take-offs and landings at Gimpo International Airport in Gyeonggi between 5:22 p.m. and 6:11 p.m. on Wednesday.

An official from the Korea Airports Corporation said the air traffic authority took the measure because an “unconfirmed object that appeared to be a waste-carrying balloon was floating in the sky above Korean Air’s headquarters near the airport.” Update, July 25: Added more details about the rooftop fire accident and air traffic measures.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]