CNN
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North Korea has ramped up its garbage-balloon operations, with Seoul officials floating about 600 aerial waste balloons into South Korea, littering parts of the country with cigarette butts, paper and scraps of cloth.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said « no safety-damaging materials » were found on the balloons that arrived in the country on Saturday evening – unlike a few days earlier. Used toilet paper Found in some of the 150 or so balloons that crossed the border.
Recent photos released by JCS show a large sack of paper left on the side of the road, while other images show officers inspecting debris strewn on the ground. Others displayed burnt cigarette butts.
According to images released by authorities, the packages are sent by large, gas-filled balloons.
South Korea said its military was working with police, local government, the Ministry of Defense and the United Nations to safely recover the balloons and debris. Balloons were found in the capital Seoul and in Gyeonggi and Chungcheong provinces. Some were found 300 kilometers (more than 185 miles) south of the capital, in Gyeongsang Province.
Im Sun-Suk/Yonhap/AP
Soldiers examine debris from a North Korean balloon that landed in Incheon, South Korea, on June 2, 2024.
The neighboring countries are cut off from each other from the end Korean War in 1953 with a cease-fire. They are still technically at war.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister Kim Yo Jong – a senior official in the reclusive regime – called the balloons « real gifts » and promised to send more, the Korean Central News Agency said in a report on Wednesday.
He compared North Korea's actions to South Korea's years-long practice of sending up balloons with anti-North Korean leaflets.
North Korea is completely closed off from the rest of the world, with tight controls on what information gets in or out. Foreign material, including films and books, is prohibited, with only a few government-sanctioned exceptions; Those caught with foreign contraband often face stiffer penalties, defaulters say.
Earlier this year a South Korean investigative team released rare footage it said showed North Korean youths Punished for hard labour For viewing and distribution of K-dramas.
As North Korea's relationship with China has expanded, restrictions have eased somewhat in recent decades. Temporary measures to open allowed some South Korean elements parts of its pop culture, to enter the hermit nation – especially in 2017 and 2018, when relations between the two countries thawed.
But the situation in North Korea worsened in the following years and diplomatic talks broke down – prompting Strict rules for withdrawal within the space.
