North Korea launches wave of trash balloons toward South Korea

North Korea launched a fresh wave of “trash balloons” toward its southern neighbors Wednesday night, according to local media. 

South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported that the North launched more than 160 balloons carrying trash across its southern border. 

The report cited South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) which said it discovered dozens of “trash bundles” containing paper, plastic bottles, and other household garbage in parts of Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds the capital of Seoul. 

Earlier this month, the JCS said it had detected around 420 balloons that the North had allegedly launched into South Korea. 

The trash bundle is the latest tit-for-tat between the two Koreas, which have been engaging in Cold War-style tactics since earlier this year, with the North having flown thousands of balloons toward the South, filled with wastepaper, cloth scraps, cigarette butts and even manure. 

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A balloon presumably sent by North Korea, is seen in a paddy field in Incheon, South Korea. For months, South Korea has watched North Korea send trash-carrying balloons across its heavily armed border. (Im Sun-suk/Yonhap via AP/File)

North Korea says the balloons are in retaliation against South Korean civilian activists who fly anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border.

Trash carried by at least one North Korean balloon fell on the South Korean presidential compound in July, raising concerns about the vulnerability of key South Korean facilities. Officials said the balloon contained no dangerous materials and that no one was hurt.

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South Korea has retaliated with front-line loudspeakers to blast propaganda messages and K-pop songs toward the North.

The back-and-forth tactics are adding to tensions fueled by North Korea’s growing nuclear ambitions and South Korea’s expansion of joint military exercises with the U.S.