North Korea launches more trash balloons toward South Korea: Officials

Seoul : North Korea sent more balloons likely carrying trash toward South Korea on Saturday, military officials said, marking the fourth straight day of the launches.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the balloons could travel to Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul, warning the public of falling objects and asking people to report balloons to the military or police, Yonhap news agency reported.

The latest launches came after the North floated some 190 balloons from Friday night to early Saturday morning, with around 100 trash bundles landing in the capital and Gyeonggi Province, according to the JCS.

No hazardous materials have been found in the balloons, which largely contained scrap paper, pieces of plastic and plastic bottles.

Since late May, the North has launched thousands of balloons carrying trash in retaliation against anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent across the border by North Korean defectors and activists in South Korea.

Initially, manure was sent toward the South in these balloons, later replaced by scrap paper and plastic, and then used plastic bottles.

This week's launches came after a nearly one-month hiatus.

North Korea appears to have resumed the campaign due to a more consistent supply of materials to fill the balloons.

In response to such campaigns, the South's military has been blasting daily anti-North Korean propaganda broadcasts through loudspeakers on the border since July 21.

North Korea has bristled against the anti-Pyongyang leaflet and loudspeaker campaigns on fears that an influx of outside information could pose a threat to the Kim Jong-un regime.