Pyongyang will temporarily suspend launching balloons carrying garbage to South Korea but will resume its trash-balloon operation if Seoul continues scattering propaganda leaflets, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, citing a North Korean defense ministry spokesman.
According to KCNA, around 3,500 balloons carrying some 15 tons of trash such as cigarette butts, cloth, paper waste, and plastic were sent to North Korea across the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas from May 28 to June 2, saying that it was a tit-for-tat response to what it called South Korea’s "scattering leaflets and various dirty things" over the border.
Earlier, Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong characterized the launching of balloons carrying trash to South Korea as a manifestation of "the North Korean people's fair right to freedom of expression" and cautioned that Pyongyang will give a ten-fold response to any spread of ‘South Korean propaganda garbage’ on their territory.
MP/PR