South Korea: Trash balloon from North Korea sparks fire on Seoul rooftop amid escalating tensions
North Korea - South Korea trash balloons
Amid the escalating tensions, a trash balloon sent by North Korea to South Korea on Sunday (Sep 15) landed on a building rooftop in Seoul and sparked a fire that took nearly 20 minutes to douse.
Casualties and damage
In a statement, Seoul's Gangseo Fire Station said that "a fire broke out on the rooftop of a four-storey commercial building in the Western district of Seoul" at around 9:04 pm local time (1204 GMT).
The fire was doused in around 18 minutes, and 15 fire trucks had to be deployed to stop the fire from spreading. As per the fire department, there were no casualties.
This comes as North Korea late on Sunday launched 120 trash-filled balloons towards the border towards South Korea. Previously, on Saturday, the nation had sent another 50 balloons, said South Korea's military on Monday (Sep 16).
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Of these, 40 balloons, as per the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) had already landed in the South — mainly in northern Gyeonggi Province and the capital Seoul.
The trash balloons mostly contained "paper and plastic waste" said the JCS, adding that they posed no risk to the public.
Why is North Korea sending trash balloons to South Korea?
This escalation follows instances of South Korean activists launching balloons carrying anti-regime propaganda leaflets and money across the border into North Korea. These campaigns have long infuriated Pyongyang, which possibly fears that outside information could destabilise the tightly controlled society and threaten the Kim Jong Un regime.
In retaliation, North Korea in May threatened to take similar action. Kim Kang Il, a vice-minister of defence, on May 26 said that "Tit-for-tat action will be taken against frequent scattering of leaflets and other rubbish by the ROK near border areas." Here, ROK refers to the Republic of Korea, the South's official name.
Since then, the North has sent over 5,000 trash balloons southward.
Now, the balloons are equipped with timer devices that can cause fires. Earlier this month, these balloons caused two fires: one near an airport and another at a storage unit.
JCS spokesperson Lee Chang-hyun, as quoted by the news agency AFP told reporters "Some North Korean trash balloons have thermal timers that could potentially cause fires if they don't separate properly when the heating wire is activated, which acts to detach the balloon from its load."
"We have seen it being described as a 'timer explosion', but we would like to explain again that the method is where a thermal timer heats the balloon's material, causing it to tear apart in mid-air," he added.
He said that shooting down the balloons in the air "increases the risk of falling debris or hazardous materials," and that for now, "the safest approach is considered to be quickly collecting them after they fall naturally."
(With inputs from agencies)
