North Korea flies trash balloons over the South as leader Kim doubles down on satellite ambitions
North Korea flew hundreds of trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea in one of its most bizarre provocations against its rival in years, prompting the South's military to mobilise chemical and explosive response teams to recover objects and debris in different parts of the country. The ballooning campaign came as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged his military scientists to overcome a failed satellite launch and continue developing space-based reconnaissance capabilities, which he described as crucial for countering U.S. and South Korean military activities, state media said Wednesday.
In his first public comments about the launch failure, Kim also warned of unspecified «stern» action against South Korea over an exercise involving 20 fighter jets near the inter-Korean border hours before North Korea's failed launch on Monday. In a speech Tuesday, Kim called the South Korean response «hysterical insanity» and «a very dangerous provocation that cannot be ignored,» the North's official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday.
In another sign of tensions between the war-divided rivals, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea also has been flying large numbers of balloons carrying trash toward the South since Tuesday night, in an apparent retaliation against South Korean activists for flying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the border.
The South's military said about 260 North Korean balloons were found dropped in various parts
