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South Korea’s military confirmed on Wednesday that North Korea had sent over more than 150 balloons, presumed to be carrying feces, to the South on Tuesday night.
Military and police personnel are currently collecting balloons that have landed in South Korean territory, with packages suspected to contain excrement attached to them.
Authorities are also checking whether propaganda leaflets are among the contents of the balloons.
As of Wednesday morning, some balloons are still airborne. Some fallen balloons were found in Gangwon, Gyeonggi and North Gyeongsang.
On Tuesday evening, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced that the military was responding to unidentified objects appearing in border areas in Gangwon and Gyeonggi, which seemingly carried North Korean propaganda materials.
The JCS advised people to steer clear of unknown objects and to report any sightings to nearby military bases or police.
On Sunday, Pyongyang warned Seoul that it would retaliate against anti-North Korean balloon launches by North Korean defector groups in South Korea, threatening to disperse “countless used toilet papers and filth” in South Korean regions near the inter-Korean border.
North Korean defector groups occasionally launch balloons containing materials denouncing the Kim Jong-un regime.
Tuesday’s incident of launching “dirty balloons” is not unprecedented. A similar event occurred in 2016 when North Korea sent balloons packed with cigarette butts and used toilet paper.
With North Korean objects floating in the South’s airspace, South Korean authorities issued an emergency alert at 11:34 p.m. on Tuesday, notifying people about the balloons and the potential danger they posed.
The alert, written in both Korean and English, stated, “[The authorities] have identified objects that seem to carry North Korean propaganda leaflets” in Korean and “Air raid Preliminary warning” in English.
The use of the term “raid” caused confusion among residents in northern Seoul and Gyeonggi, sparking concerns about evacuation or the possibility of war.
A police official said on Wednesday that “a number of inquiries about the alert message followed” after it was sent out.