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Terminal building of Incheon Airport. (Lee Sang-sub/The Korea Herald) |
Trash-filled balloons sent by North Korea disrupted the takeoff and landing of multiple airplanes at Incheon Airport early Wednesday.
According to the Incheon International Airport Corp., the balloons caused delays of operations related to domestic and international flights that were scheduled to take off or land there between 1:46 a.m. and 4:44 a.m. The runways were fully operational as of Wednesday morning.
Officials explained that the restriction was due to concerns that balloons could get sucked into the planes' engines.
An unspecified number of balloons flown by the North were spotted in the northern part of Gyeonggi Province late Tuesday, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This marked the sixth series of balloon launches since May 28 by the communist country, who filled the balloons with mostly scrap paper and waste.
The balloon launches were in response to anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent northward, also via balloons, by conservative activists and North Korean defectors based here. It sparked protests from Pyongyang's dictatorial regime, led by Kim Jong-un.
Last week, Kim's sister Kim Yo-jong indicated that the North would be sending more of the garbage balloons southward if the activists continued to send the leaflets across the border.
In response to North Korea's actions, South Korea on June 9 blared anti-Pyongyang broadcasts through its border loudspeakers, which had been turned off for the past six years. The loudspeakers were switched off again afterward, but the military has stated that it is ready to resume such broadcasts at any moment.
