North Korea Dumps 260+ Balloons Full of Garbage and Feces into South Korea
World,Asia,North Korea,South Korea,Foreign Affairs
North Korea on Wednesday sent a swarm of balloons, loaded with garbage and feces, across the border, triggering air raid sirens in one South Korean border community.
North Korea’s move was evidently a response to South Korean groups that occasionally send balloons with leaflets, music, or videos into the North. On Sunday, Pyongyang warned it was preparing a “tit-for-tat action” that would involve “mounds of newspapers and filth” to retaliate against South Korean pamphleteers.
Late on Tuesday evening, residents of South Korea’s Gyeonggi province near the border village of Panmunjom were startled to see “air raid preliminary warnings” appearing on their cell phones.
“Air raid? I panicked because I thought they were talking about some kind of attack,” an area resident told Radio Free Asia (RFA).
The cell phone alert asked people to report any unidentified flying objects. Gyeonggi officials later apologized for issuing this request in the context of an “air raid” alert, which panicked many people living in the shadow of North Korea’s vast missile and artillery arsenal.
.png.webp)
