North Korea sends balloons with feces, trash attached into South Korea
North Korea took responsibility for sending hundreds of balloons filled with feces and trash over its border with South Korea.South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said about 260 North Korean balloons have been found all over the country as of Wednesday afternoon. Chemical and explosive response teams have been sent out to recover the balloons and debris.Photos released by the military show some still-intact white balloons with trash bags attached to them while others show scattered pieces of plastic and paper on city streets.
Apart from the trash, the South Korean military says manure and animal feces were also deployed by some of the balloons. So far, no human excrement has been found.An alert was sent to South Korean residents warning them to stay inside and to report any balloon sightings to authorities.
Most of the balloons landed near border provinces, but some made it hundreds of miles south to South Gyeongsang.North Korea’s vice defence minister Kim Kang Il said the bizarre provocation was a “tit-for-tat” move in retaliation for South Korean activists sending balloons across the border with leaflets criticizing North Korea’s human rights abuses. The balloons sometimes include USBs that contain K-pop music videos and K-drama TV shows, which are banned in the authoritarian state.“Tit-for-tat action will be also taken against frequent scattering of leaflets and other rubbish (by South Korea) near border areas,” Kim said Sunday.
Read more on globalnews.ca
