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Over 10,000 fliers grounded by North Korea’s trash balloon blitz
- Pyongyang has floated more than 1,000 balloons into the South over the past month, forcing delays and diversions at airports
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Trash-carrying balloons sent by North Korea across the border have disrupted more than 100 flights carrying 10,000 passengers, a South Korean lawmaker said on Wednesday.
Pyongyang has floated more than 1,000 balloons carrying bags of trash into the South, in retaliation for similar missives sent northwards by activists in the South, carrying anti-Kim Jong-un propaganda.
The North’s balloons briefly forced a three-hour halt to flights in and out of South Korea’s Incheon airport on June 26, and the multiple balloon launches over the past month have required other flights to delay take-offs or landings, or even to divert.
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Citing new data from the transport ministry, MP Jeong Jun-ho said that 115 commercial jets have been disrupted by the balloon launches – which began in late May – affecting more than 10,000 passengers.
At least 15 jets, including long-haul arrivals from the United States, were forced to make alternative landings, with passengers then driven to Incheon, causing lengthy delays and inconvenience, he said in a press statement.
Hundreds of passengers on flights from San Francisco, Vancouver and Los Angeles “were slated to land at Incheon International Airport but ended up at Cheongju Airport without knowing what was happening”, he said.
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