North Korea said Sunday (June 2) it would stop sending balloons carrying trash into South Korea, reported the country's state media. The announcement came after the North sent hundreds of such baloons in recent days.

North Korea said Sunday (June 2) it would stop sending balloons carrying trash into South Korea, reported the country's state media. The announcement came after the North sent hundreds of such baloons in recent days. "We will temporarily suspend the action of scattering waste paper beyond the border," said the official Korean Central News Agency. "This is because our action is a thorough countermeasure." North Korea sent 600 more balloons carrying trash into South Korea overnight, Seoul said on Sunday (June 2). A day before, authorities in Seoul warned public to report such incidents to the military or the police. In a public message, people were asked to refrain from touching balloons "identified in the sky near Seoul" and to report them as these were "being handled by the military." Similar messages were issued in other regions. On Sunday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the balloons carrying garbage such as cigarette butts, cloth, paper waste and plastic were found across Seoul from 8 pm Saturday to 10 am Sunday. 'Gifts of sincerity' Earlier this week, North Korea sent hundreds of balloons carrying trash and excrement. Pyongyang called these balloons "gifts of sincerity" and vowed to send more. Also read | North Korea's 'low-class' move: Balloons filled with trash, poop sent to South Korea Pyongyang said the balloons were retaliation for an ongoing propaganda campaign by North Korean defectors and activists in South Korea, who send balloons containing anti-Pyongyang leaflets, food, medicine, money and USB sticks loaded with K-pop music videos and dramas across the border. Photographs released by the South Korean military showed inflated balloons with plastic bags tied to them. Other images appeared to show trash strewn around collapsed balloons, with the word "excrement" written on a bag in one photograph. Reuters reported that by Wednesday, more than 260 balloons had been detected, and most of them had landed on the ground, carrying animal faeces and rubbish, the military said. 'Low-grade behaviour' On Saturday, South Korean Defence Minister Shin Won-sik called North Korea's move "unimaginably petty and low-grade behaviour." Meanwhile, Colonel Lee Sung-Jun, the public affairs director of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned Pyongyang to halt this activity. "Full responsibility for issues that occurred by North Korea's filth balloons against the South lies entirely with North Korea, and we once again gravely warn North Korea to immediately halt their inhuman, low-level, and nasty activity which violates the armistice agreement," Colonel Lee said. (With inputs from agencies)

North Korea to stop sending balloons carrying trash into South Korea: State media

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North Korea to stop sending balloons carrying trash into South Korea: State media