Pyongyang has flown tons of waste into South Korea in response to propaganda leaflets sent north by activists
North Korea has said it will stop sending so-called trash-balloons to the South, claiming on Sunday that the campaign had achieved its goals.
South Korea’s military said on the same day that North Korea had floated hundreds more balloons carrying bags containing trash ranging from cigarette butts to pieces of cardboard and plastic, and threatened to retaliate.
Hours later, North Korea’s deputy defense minister, Kim Kang Il, said his country would “temporarily halt dropping trash over the border.” Pyongyang earlier described its “sincere gifts” as retaliation for South Korean activists’ years-long practice of floating balloons across the border to drop anti-Pyongyang leaflets.
A few days earlier, North Korea sent over more than 150 balloons carrying trash, manure and used toilet paper.
“We made the ROK [Republic of Korea] clans get enough experience of how much unpleasant they feel and how much effort is needed” to clean up the rubbish, Kim said.
He claimed Pyongyang had scattered 15 tons of wastepaper with more than 3,500 balloons of various sorts between May 28 and June 2.
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