North Korean trash balloons cause flights to be suspended in South Korea
Flights have been suspended in South Korea by trash balloons floated over the border by North Korea.
North Korea has sent about 500 balloons laden with trash into South Korea’s air space over the past 24 hours, officials in the South said on Thursday, disrupting flights and igniting a fire on the roof of a residential building.
The balloons are part of an ongoing propaganda campaign by Pyongyang against North Korean defectors and activists in the South, who regularly send balloons carrying items such as anti-Pyongyang leaflets medicine, money and USB sticks loaded with K-pop videos and dramas.
A suspected balloon suspended take-offs and landings at Seoul’s Gimpo Airport on Wednesday evening for two hours, an official at the Korea Airports Corporation said.
Balloons have affected traffic at South Korea’s main international airport, Incheon, several times in recent weeks.
North Korean candy packaging collected from a street in Seoul, South Korea on Wednesday.Anthony Wallace / AFP - Getty ImagesIn Gyeonggi, a province near Seoul, a balloon caught fire on top of a residential building. Fire fighters extinguished the blaze, an official at the Gyeonggi Northern Fire and Disaster Headquarters said.
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