Trash Balloons Sent by North Korea Cause Regular Disruptions at Seoul’s Airports

 23 September 2024, South Korea, Seoul: An object, believed to be a garbage balloon sent by North Korea, is spotted over the Yongsan district of Seoul, where the presidential office is located. (Yonhap/dpa)
23 September 2024, South Korea, Seoul: An object, believed to be a garbage balloon sent by North Korea, is spotted over the Yongsan district of Seoul, where the presidential office is located. (Yonhap/dpa)
TT

Trash Balloons Sent by North Korea Cause Regular Disruptions at Seoul’s Airports

 23 September 2024, South Korea, Seoul: An object, believed to be a garbage balloon sent by North Korea, is spotted over the Yongsan district of Seoul, where the presidential office is located. (Yonhap/dpa)
23 September 2024, South Korea, Seoul: An object, believed to be a garbage balloon sent by North Korea, is spotted over the Yongsan district of Seoul, where the presidential office is located. (Yonhap/dpa)

South Korea has been forced to repeatedly shut down runways at the two main airports for the capital Seoul since June due to disruption from balloons carrying trash launched by North Korea, a South Korean lawmaker said on Wednesday, citing aviation data.

On 20 different days since June 1, all or some runways at Incheon and Gimpo airports were closed for landings or takeoffs, or both, when balloons were detected in the vicinity, Democratic Party member of parliament Yang Bu-nam said in a statement.

In total, the closures lasted 413 minutes.

North Korea has launched more than 5,500 balloons with bags of trash attached to them since late May, saying it was responding to balloons carrying propaganda leaflets flown by South Korean activists.

The balloons are carried by wind and some have dropped in the South, including near the presidential office and on airport runways.

While most were removed by authorities without incident, some have disrupted airport traffic and caused small fires.

On June 26, Incheon airport runways were closed for a total of 166 minutes, the most over 24 hours, according to aviation official data released by Yang's office.

On Monday, takeoffs and landings were suspended at Incheon, the world's fifth-busiest international airport and an important cargo hub, for a total of 90 minutes.

The balloons have also disrupted operations at Gimpo, which is on the western edge of the capital Seoul and mostly serves domestic flights.

An airline official said the North Korean balloon campaign had complicated flight operations, in some cases increasing the amount of fuel carried by planes in case of delays in the air or diversions to alternative airports.

An aviation authority official said decisions to close runways were made each time a balloon is detected, factoring in conditions and not based on a specific distance they are from the airport.

South Korea's military has said it uses surveillance assets to track the balloons starting when they are launched but its position has not been to shoot them down despite calls by some MPs and civic groups, citing potential safety risks.

On Monday, the military said it was ready to take "stern military action" if it believed the North had "crossed the line," but declined to elaborate.



Iran Denies Targeting Ex-US officials

25 September 2024, US, Cherokee: Former US president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally inside the Mosack Group manufacturing warehouse in Mint Hill. Photo: Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez/TNS via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
25 September 2024, US, Cherokee: Former US president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally inside the Mosack Group manufacturing warehouse in Mint Hill. Photo: Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez/TNS via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
TT

Iran Denies Targeting Ex-US officials

25 September 2024, US, Cherokee: Former US president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally inside the Mosack Group manufacturing warehouse in Mint Hill. Photo: Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez/TNS via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
25 September 2024, US, Cherokee: Former US president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally inside the Mosack Group manufacturing warehouse in Mint Hill. Photo: Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez/TNS via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Iran said on Thursday that accusations it had targeted former US officials were baseless, after former US president Donald Trump implicated Iran, without offering evidence, in assassination attempts against him.
"It is obvious that such accusations are just a part of creating the election atmosphere in the US...., and not even worth a response," Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said in a statement.
Trump, the Republican candidate to return to the presidency, said on Wednesday Iran may have been behind recent attempts to assassinate him and suggested that if he were president and another country threatened a US presidential candidate, it risked being "blown to smithereens.”
"There have been two assassination attempts on my life that we know of, and they may or may not involve, but possibly do, Iran, but I don’t really know," Trump said at an event a pipe-fittings plant in Mint Hill, North Carolina.
Trump made his remarks after US intelligence officials briefed him a day earlier on "real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him," according to his campaign.
Federal authorities are probing assassination attempts targeting Trump at his Florida golf course in mid-September and at a rally in Pennsylvania in July. There has been no public suggestion by law enforcement agencies of involvement by Iran or any other foreign power in either incident.