Trash-laden North Korean balloons were found on the grounds of South Korea\u2019s presidential office compound, officials said Wednesday, the latest in a series of incidents that have raised tensions and rhetoric on the Korean Peninsula. <\/p>\n
More than 3,000 North Korean balloons, often filled with garbage such as cigarette butts, discarded batteries and even manure have fallen in the South since May, according to South Korean officials \u2013 who have responded by resuming loudspeaker broadcasts of propaganda and entertainment like K-pop songs along the demilitarized zone (DMZ). <\/p>\n
The discovery at the presidential office Wednesday came after South Korean authorities warned the public to beware of falling objects as suspected North Korean trash balloons moved south toward the northern area of Gyeonggi province. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile monitoring trash balloons sent by North Korea in cooperation with the Joint Chiefs of Staff today, we identified trash that fell in the presidential office area in Yongsan,\u201d the presidential security service said later in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo harmful or contaminating substances were found from an analysis by the response team.\u201d <\/p>\n
South Korea\u2019s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) has advised people not to touch fallen balloons and to report any found to authorities. <\/p>\n
\u201cNorth Korea\u2019s actions clearly violate international law and seriously threaten the safety of our citizens,\u201d JCS said in a statement after an earlier balloon incident. \u201cAll responsibility arising from the North Korean balloons lies entirely with North Korea, and we sternly warn North Korea to immediately stop its inhumane and low-level actions.\u201d <\/p>\n
Pyongyang has previously said it sent balloons south in response to a civilian campaign in South Korea to float balloons carrying anti-North Korean propaganda in the opposite direction. <\/p>\n
For many years, South Korean activists and North Korean defectors have sent balloons to the North, loaded with material criticizing dictator Kim Jong Un and USB sticks filled with K-pop songs and South Korean television shows \u2013 all strictly prohibited in the impoverished, highly isolated nation. <\/p>\n
In a statement carried by North Korean state media earlier this month, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, said dozens of balloons, \u201cdirty leaflets\u201d and other material sent from South Korea were again found in her country and near the border. <\/p>\n
Despite repeated North Korean warnings, the South Korean activists were \u201cnot stopping this crude and dirty play\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems that the situation we cannot overlook is coming,\u201d Kim Yo Jong said in a \u201cstern warning\u201d published by North Korea\u2019s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), adding there would be \u201ca gruesome and dear price\u201d to pay that could change the South\u2019s \u201cmode of counteraction\u201d with the North. <\/p>\n
While the balloons have been going across the border, North Korea has kept up a stream of criticism against military drills by the United States and South Korea on the peninsula, the latest of those being the deployment of US Marine Corps F\/A-18 and F-35B fighter jets to Suwon Air Base for joint aerial training this week. <\/p>\n
The South Korean Defense Ministry said the US planes will join with South Korean F-15, F-16 and FA-50 fighters in exercises that will end August 8. <\/p>\n
A US Defense Department release said the Marine Corps jets were dispatched \u201cto enhance their standard of readiness and lethality with our South Korean allies and joint forces.\u201d <\/p>\n
But a KCNA commentary claimed the joint maneuvers were an example of Washington \u201crunning high fever in its move to expand the overall structure of confrontation against\u201d North Korea. <\/p>\n
North and South Korea have been divided since 1953, when an armistice ended the Korean War three years after the North invaded the South. But a peace treaty has never been signed, so the two technically remain at war. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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