Pyongyang resumes sending balloons filled with garbage to South Korea

North Korea has resumed sending balloons loaded with garbage toward the South, the South’s military said Sunday, in an apparent response to Seoul’s resumption of loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts. “Please report them to the military or police and avoid any direct contact with these objects.”the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff asked in a statement.

Pyongyang has launched more than 2,000 balloons loaded with garbage across the inter-Korean border since May, in what it says is retaliation for balloons carrying propaganda by South Korean activists.

The new round of balloons comes three days after Seoul announced it would resume loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts against the North Korean regime. The South Korean government has warned that it would expand the scope of such broadcasts if the North persists in sending balloons carrying garbage, noting that ““All responsibility lies entirely with the North Korean military.”