Seoul (South Korea), June 2: Ramping up its 'trash balloon operations', North Korea sent 600 more trash-filled balloons to South Korea on Saturday evening, leaving bits of paper, cloth, and cigarette butts scattered over the nation, CNN reported, citing Seoul officials.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff had said "no substances harmful to safety have been found" among the balloons that reached the country on Saturday evening - unlike just a few days ago when used toilet paper was found in some of the about 150 balloons that crossed the border.

In the most recent images made public by the JCS, a sizable sack seemingly filled with paper is seen on the side of the road. According to images released by authorities, the packages are conveyed by large, gas-filled balloons, reported CNN.

In order to securely recover the balloons and the debris, South Korea claimed that the military is collaborating with the police, the local government, the safety ministry, and the United Nations Command.

The provinces of Gyeonggi and Chungcheong, as well as the nation's capital, Seoul, were where the balloons were discovered. Some were also seen in Gyeongsang province, more than 300 kilometres (more than 185 miles) south of the city, CNN reported.

After the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice, the two adjacent nations were cut off from one another. In a sense, they are still at war.

The balloons were referred to as "sincere presents" by Kim Yo Jong, a top official in her brother Kim Jong Un's isolated dictatorship, and she promised to send more, according to a statement released Wednesday by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

She made a comparison between North Korea's acts and South Korea's long-standing policy of releasing balloons bearing anti-North Korea pamphlets in the other direction.

North Korea maintains strict controls over what information enters and leaves the country, and it is virtually cut off from the outside world. Books and films from other countries are prohibited, with very few exceptions authorised by the authorities.

(ANI)

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