N. Korea launches more trash balloons toward S. Korea: JCS

▲ Balloons presumed to be carrying trash float over North Korea's southwestern county of Kaepung in this file photo taken from South Korea's border city of Paju, 27 kilometers northwest of Seoul, on Sept. 5, 2024. (Yonhap)

N Korea-trash balloons

N. Korea launches more trash balloons toward S. Korea: JCS

SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- North Korea again launched balloons likely carrying trash toward South Korea on Wednesday, hours after it fired multiple ballistic missiles, the South's military said.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the balloon launches, noting they could travel to the northern part of Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul, and the capital area.

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

The latest launches came after the North fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles in a northeastern direction early Wednesday, adding to already heightened cross-border tensions from the trash balloon campaign.

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