North Korea's balloon stunt: Junk-filled inflatables land in Seoul

Yonhap agency reported, citing the Presidential Security Service (PSS), that a balloon filled with rubbish sent by North Korea landed in downtown Seoul on the grounds of the president's office.

Presidential services, which monitored the flight of the latest balloons, noticed that the loads were falling on the grounds of the presidential complex. North Korea released these balloons in the early morning hours of Wednesday local time, which was during the night in the UK.

After noticing the falling objects, an investigation was conducted to determine if these objects posed any threat.

"An investigation conducted by the chemical, biological, and radiological response team showed that the objects posed no threat or contamination, so they were removed," PSS stated.

The President of South Korea's current residence is in the Defence Ministry complex in the Yongsan district in downtown Seoul. The decision to move from the so-called Blue House, which had been the president's residence since 1948, was made in 2022 by the current president, Yoon Suk Yeol.

On Wednesday morning, JCS reported detecting a new series of balloons flying towards the northern part of Gyeonggi province, which surrounds the country's capital.

Since the end of May, communist North Korea has sent over 3,000 balloons loaded with rubbish bags to South Korea, leading to increased tension between the two countries.

Among the rubbish, damaged clothing and soil containing traces of human faeces and parasites were found. Pyongyang claims this is in response to propaganda leaflet balloons, which are sent over its territory by civilian organisations from the South.

After Kim Jong Un's regime released balloons again last week, the South Korean military resumed broadcasting propaganda through loudspeakers at selected sections of the inter-Korean border. In response to the North's intensified actions, when 500 balloons were recorded on Sunday, JCS announced it had switched to broadcasting "at full scale and on all fronts."

Yonhap agency reports that on Monday, broadcasts were made for 16 hours. The latest broadcast was said to contain information about numerous North Korean soldiers' deaths due to mine explosions while placing them on the northern side of the Demilitarised Zone separating the two Koreas and about a North Korean diplomat's defection to South Korea. K-pop music is usually also broadcast during the sessions.