Seoul: North Korea again sent balloons carrying trash toward South Korea on Monday, resuming its balloon campaign after about a three-week hiatus.

According to Qatar News Agency, North Korea floated some 40 balloons in the early hours, with approximately half of them falling in the Seoul metropolitan area and surrounding Gyeonggi Province, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in South Korea said. The fallen objects were leaflets critical of South Korea and included no hazardous items, it added.

Since late May, North Korea has sent more than 7,000 balloons carrying trash across the border in retaliation against anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets sent across the border by activists in the South. Monday’s launch marked the 31st such launch.

The JCS in South Korea condemned North Korea for “crossing the line” with its continued sending of trash-carrying balloons and warned that all responsibility lies within the North, according to South Korea’s News Agency (Yonhap). “Do not further test our military’s patience,” J
CS deputy spokesperson Col. Nam Gi-su said in a statement.

On Sunday, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, claimed that South Korean leaflets had crossed the border into the North the previous day and warned that Seoul would have to pay “a dear price” for such action, Yonhap said. North Korea earlier claimed that South Korean drones carrying anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets were detected over Pyongyang three times in October and threatened to respond with force if such flights occur again, Yonhap added.