North Korea's trash-filled balloons disrupt flights in Seoul, cause rooftop fire

SEOUL — North Korea has sent about 500 balloons laden with trash into South Korea's airspace over the past 24 hours, said officials in the South on July 25, 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 the evening of July 24 for two hours, said an official at the Korea Airports Corporation.

Balloons have affected traffic at South Korea's main international airport, Incheon, several times in recent weeks.

In Gyeonggi, a province near Seoul, a balloon caught fire on top of a residential building. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, said an official at the Gyeonggi Northern Fire and Disaster Headquarters.

South Korea's military said some trash-filled balloons were equipped with timed poppers that could cause fires.

"A timer is attached to the trash balloons, which has the effect of popping the balloons and spreading the trash after a certain period of time has passed," Lee Sung-jun, a spokesman for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a briefing.

He said 480 balloons, mostly carrying paper and plastic trash, had landed in South Korea as at July 25.

On July 24, some balloons landed in the vicinity of the heavily guarded presidential office in Seoul.

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