A look inside North Korea’s trash, says South Korea

SEOUL:

Among the trash ballooned across the border from the North were articles with Hello Kitty characters, worn clothes and soil containing traces of human feces and vermin, South Korea said Monday.

North Korea has been flying balloons carrying garbage since late May, with hundreds landing in South Korea. South Korea deployed military explosives units and chemical and biological warfare teams to inspect the objects.

The items also included clothes donated by the South that were cut and shredded, and general trash that appeared to have been hastily collected, the South’s Unification Ministry, which handles the North, said in a report.

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

Also read: South Korea to suspend military deal with North over junk balloons

Parasites and human DNA were found in the dirt in some of the plastic bags, indicating they contained fertilizer that used human feces, the ministry’s Unification Ministry said.

North Korea, which suffers from chronic food shortages, depended on South Korea for huge shipments of chemical fertilizers until that aid was suspended in 2007 as Pyongyang accelerated its weapons development.

The trash included worn Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and Hello Kitty clothing as well as heavily patched socks, gloves and children’s clothing, hand-stitched fabric masks and two layers of shirts sewn together.

Late Monday, South Korea’s military said the North launched balloons that appeared to be carrying garbage. North Korea warned last week that it would send up more balloons carrying garbage.