At least three fires caused by North’s trash balloons but South just stands by and watch them

Holes are seen on the roof of a warehouse in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, after a fire caused by North Korea’s trash balloon broke out on September 8. Yonhap News

At least three fires have been confirmed to have been caused by trash balloons launched from North Korea. There is a high risk of a recurrence of the accident, but there seems to be no way to prevent it as long as the government maintains its current stance.

At around 2 p.m. on September 8, a fire broke out when North Korea’s trash balloon fell onto the roof of a warehouse in Gwangtan-myeon, Paju, Gyeonggi Province, the Gyeonggi-do Bukbu Fire Services said on the 9th. The fire, which burned 330 square meters of the roof of one warehouse building, was extinguished in three hours. The fire department estimated that the fire caused damage to property estimated at 87.29 million won. The fire is the largest single damage caused by a trash balloon. At the scene of the fire, a plastic Timer and wires were found that were likely attached to the balloon.

A trash balloon consists of a balloon and a plastic bag containing trash, which are connected by a string. The Timer was attached to the line on the side of the plastic bag. At the specified time, the wire connected to the Timer ignites and rips the bag open. The trash in the bag is then scattered on the ground and the balloon is released into the sky. However, it does not always work this way, and in many cases, the balloons fall to the ground with the trash still attached. Also, not all balloons are equipped with a Timer.

The military and fire authorities believe that the fire was caused by a wire, which is used to tear open a plastic bag, as it also burned the trash, such as paper, plastic and plastic bottles in the bag. There was no other burnable material on the sandwich panel roof where the balloon landed.

However, it is hard to say that the North intended to set fire with the trash balloon. The North has been sending trash balloons since late May after defining anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent across the border by North Korean defectors and activists in South Korea as “trash” and said it would “respond" to them. An official from the Joint Chiefs of Staff reaffirmed that "until now, balloons have never contained explosives or flammable substances."

This is not the first fire caused by North’s trash balloon. On September 5, a balloon fell on the roof of an underground parking lot in Daelim-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, and caught fire. The fire was extinguished in 11 minutes. On June 2, a balloon caused a fire in Ojeong-gu, Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi Province, and scorched the front wheel of a car. The property damage was estimated at 50,000 won and 1.21 million won, respectively.

In some cases, people were injured when they were hit by piles of trash that fell from the sky. On July 24, a man riding a bicycle on Banghwa-daero in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, suffered bruises on his right arm from a pile of garbage. He was treated 10 times at the hospital, with a diagnosis that he needed three weeks of treatment. The Seoul Metropolitan Government estimated the damage at 468,400 won.

On May 29, a logistics center in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, suffered 15.71 million won in damages as a roof was broken by a trash balloon, according to data released by Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. From May 28 to August 10, there were 38 cases of damage worth 79.78 million won in Seoul and 13 cases worth 20.65 million won in Gyeonggi Province

The problem is that such fires and casualties are expected to recur, but there is no obvious way to stop them. The government is unwilling to stop North Korean defectors and activists from distributing anti-Pyongyang leaflets. This is because the leaflets are viewed as a means of expanding North Koreans' access to information.

The government's “August 15 Unification Doctrine” includes a plan to support private organizations' radio broadcasts in North Korea to increase North Koreans' access to information. As more measures are expected to be implemented that North Korea would recognize as psychological warfare, its countermeasure of launching trash balloons to South Korea is expected to increase.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.