South Korea’s military announced on Wednesday that the regime in Pyongyang launched several hundred balloons filled with garbage and human waste across the border.
The incident was reported to have started late Tuesday night, and as of the following afternoon, 260 of the devices had landed in various locations around South Korean territory.
Government officials said that chemical, biological, and nuclear response soldiers were dispatched along with explosive ordnance technicians to gather the contraband.
"North Korea's actions blatantly violate international law and seriously threaten the safety of our citizens," a press release read, while warning that the "North Korean balloons can fall not only in residential areas but also at airports and highways, potentially causing damage."
The action came several days after North Korea warned their neighbor over the long-standing practice of pro-democracy activists sending ballon-laden packages containing materials critical of the Stalinist dictatorship.
"Mounds of wastepaper and filth will soon be scattered over the border areas and the interior of the ROK, and it will directly experience how much effort is required to remove them," Kim Kang Il, a North Korean vice defense minister, said in a statement on Saturday.
