The South Korean Presidential Security Service says the balloon did not contain any hazardous materials.
North Korea has launched more balloons carrying garbage across the tense inter-Korean border, South Korean officials said, with at least one balloon dumping trash onto South Korea’s presidential palace complex for the first time.
The balloon, which landed near President Yoon Suk-yeol’s office in Yongsan, central Seoul on Tuesday, did not contain any hazardous materials and caused no casualties, the Presidential Security Service said in a statement.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff announced on Wednesday that North Korea had launched more balloons toward its territory, and Seoul city officials asked residents to report the objects and avoid touching them.
The balloon launches mark Pyongyang’s 10th so far this year, coming just days after South Korea announced it would step up propaganda broadcasts across its heavily militarised border.
North Korea has sent more than 2,000 balloons across the border since May, prompting South Korean authorities to resume broadcasts for the first time in six years.
These balloons, some of which are equipped with timers to release their contents mid-air, contain everything from cigarette butts to waste paper, used batteries and manure.
Although the balloons have not caused any injuries or significant damage, the potential for them to carry dangerous substances such as chemical and biological agents has raised security questions in South Korea.
Pyongyang has said the balloon launches were a response to South Korean activists streaming leaflets and USBs into its territory in efforts to undermine the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Kim Jong Un’s influential sister Kim Yo Jong last week threatened to impose a “terrible and heavy price” on “trash” who dropped leaflets.
Pyongyang has reacted fiercely to disinformation campaigns against its leadership in the past, blowing up a liaison office built by South Korea on its territory in 2020 and firing anti-aircraft bullets at balloons released by activists in 2014.
