Seoul, Nov 19: North Korea sent what appear to be balloons carrying trash toward South Korea on Monday, the military here said, resuming its balloon campaign after about a three-week hiatus.The Joint Chiefs of Staff said these trash bundles are expected to move toward the Seoul metropolitan area and surrounding Gyeonggi Province, considering the direction of the wind, Yonhap news agency reported.
North Korea had last floated balloons on October 24. It has done so on 31 occasions since late May in retaliation against anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets sent across the border by activists in the South.
On Sunday, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, claimed that South Korean leaflets had crossed the border into the North the previous day and warned that Seoul would have to pay”a dear price” for such action.
South Korea’s military on Monday condemned North Korea for “crossing the line” with its continued sending of trash-carrying balloons to the South and warned that all responsibility lies with the North.
“North Korea’s actions are crossing the line. We once again sternly warn that all responsibility for situations to follow lies within the North,” Joint Chiefs of Staff deputy spokesperson Colonel Nam Gi-su said in a statement, Yonhap news agency reported.
“Do not further test our military’s patience,” he said.