S Korea says N Korea sending trash balloons over border, in apparent retaliation for contraband

North Korea appears to be sending balloons with bags of trash attached to them into adjacent South Korea in apparent retaliation for activists in that country sending North propaganda leaflets and other contraband including USB sticks containing news and TV shows. 

The South Korean military says it started seeing “large amounts of balloons” coming from the North on Tuesday night and that the number had reached at least 150 by Wednesday morning, according to CNN. 

North Korean state media KCNA says the effort is retaliatory, with the contraband, also including medicine and radios, prohibited in the country, led by dictator Kim Jung Un.

Photos obtained by CNN for the South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff appear to show plastic bags carried by two giant balloons, with some broken packages spilling debris onto roads and sidewalks.

The JCS says the balloon contain “filth and garbage” that is being analyzed by government agencies.