Incheon airport briefly shuts down runways because of North Korea trash balloons

SEOUL (Reuters) — Takeoffs and landings at South Korea’s Incheon international airport were disrupted on Wednesday for about three hours before dawn because of balloons launched by North Korea filled with refuse, an airport spokesperson said.

One balloon landed on the tarmac near passenger Terminal 2 and the three runways at Incheon were temporarily shut down, the spokesperson said.

North Korea has flown balloons carrying trash into South Korea since late May, with hundreds landing in South Korea.

Several balloons were spotted in and around the airport boundaries, the spokesperson said, adding that this was not the first time operations at the airport – which is about 40km from the North Korean border – had been disrupted by balloons nearby.

North Korea has said the balloons are retaliation for a propaganda campaign by North Korean defectors and activists in the South who regularly send over balloons carrying food, medicine, money and leaflets criticising the North’s leaders.

Among the items carried by the North Korean balloons have been articles printed with Hello Kitty characters, badly worn clothing, and soil containing traces of human faeces and parasites, South Korea has said.