(Bloomberg) -- South Korea warned of possible military actions if North Korea continues to fly more trash balloons across the border, a rare direct threat of retaliation since Pyongyang started sending them in May.
The latest batch of trash-filled balloons disrupted operations at South Korea’s main Incheon International Airport for more than 90 minutes Monday and comes as tensions along the heavily-militarized Korea border have grown in recent months.
“Our military will carry out stern military measures if North Korea’s continued trash balloons seriously threaten the safety of our people or if they are deemed to have crossed the line,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement Monday. It declined to elaborate what measures were under consideration.
South Korean officials have previously said they will sternly deal with the North if any harm is done to its people but it’s unusual for officials to talk about retaliatory military response to the trash balloons.
North Korea has sent more than 5,500 trash-laden balloons across the border since late May in a show of anger at South Korea’s joint military drills with the US and other acts at the border, which Pyongyang has long complained as a threat to its sovereignty.
The balloons have been a nuisance for Seoul and surrounding areas with some causing fires. But South Korea has refrained from shooting them down out of fear of spreading possible harmful materials or collateral damage to highly populated areas from gunfire. Most of the balloons from North Korea have so far contained items such as wastepaper, cigarette butts and shoe parts.
Tensions along the border, where the two countries have positioned hundreds of thousands of troops, have been on the rise. A top South Korean official warned in July that North Korea may be considering a nuclear test closer to the US presidential election to raise its profile.
North Korea released its first photos of a facility to enrich uranium for atomic bombs earlier this month, showing leader Kim Jong Un touring a plant at the center of a program that has been a point of friction with the US for decades.
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