North Korea Sends Over 600 More Trash Balloons Into South Korea

North Korea intensified its ‘trash balloon operations’ on Saturday evening by sending 600 more balloons filled with trash to South Korea. These balloons scattered bits of paper, cloth, and cigarette butts across the nation, according to CNN, citing Seoul officials.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that no harmful substances were found among the balloons that reached the country this time. This contrasts with a recent incident where some of the approximately 150 balloons crossing the border contained used toilet paper.

Images released by the JCS showed a large sack filled with paper on the side of a road. The balloons, carrying these packages, were large and gas-filled, as reported by CNN. South Korea’s military is collaborating with police, local government, the safety ministry, and the United Nations Command to safely recover the balloons and debris.

The balloons were discovered in the provinces of Gyeonggi, Chungcheong, and the capital, Seoul, with some even reaching Gyeongsang province, over 300 kilometers south of the city.

Since the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice, the two nations have been separated and technically remain at war. Kim Yo Jong, a senior official in North Korea’s regime led by her brother Kim Jong Un, referred to the balloons as “sincere presents” and vowed to send more. She made this statement through the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday, comparing North Korea’s actions to South Korea’s longstanding practice of sending balloons with anti-North Korea pamphlets across the border.

North Korea strictly controls information flow, barring books and films from other countries, with very few exceptions authorized by the authorities. The country remains largely isolated from the outside world.