North Korea has sent more than 5,000 trash-filled balloons southward since May, saying they are retaliation for propaganda balloons launched by South Korean activists.
In response, Seoul has suspended a tension-reducing military deal with Pyongyang and restarted some propaganda broadcasts from loudspeakers along the border.
Timer devices on trash balloons caused fires earlier this month, with one near an airport and another at a storage unit.
“Some North Korean trash balloons have thermal timers that could potentially cause fires if they don’t separate properly when the heating wire is activated, which acts to detach the balloon from its load,” JCS spokesperson Lee Chang-hyun told reporters.
“We have seen it being described as a ‘timer explosion’, but we would like to explain again that the method is where a thermal timer heats the balloon’s material, causing it to tear apart in mid-air,” he added.
Lee also said “shooting down the balloons in the air increases the risk of falling debris or hazardous materials, so for now, the safest approach is considered to be quickly collecting them after they fall naturally”.
North Korea likely has data to “predict where the balloon will land after flying for a certain number of hours and then detonate the device mid-air to where they intend to drop it,” Yang Uk, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, told AFP.
Although no one has been hurt and there has been no damage, “the balloon fires can lead to worse when the season becomes dry”, Yang added.
