A spokesman for Incheon International Airport in South Korea said that takeoffs and landings at South Korea’s Incheon International Airport were disrupted for about three hours because a balloon launched by North Korea was filled with garbage.
Incheon’s three runways were temporarily closed Wednesday after a balloon landed on the tarmac near the second passenger terminal, a spokesman said.
North Korea has launched garbage-laden balloons into South Korea since late May, and hundreds of balloons have landed in South Korea.
Several balloons were spotted in and around the borders of the airport, the spokesman said, adding that this was not the first time operations at the airport, which is about 40 kilometers from the North Korean border, have been disrupted by nearby balloons.
Incheon International Airport Corporation said the disruption to domestic and international flights occurred between 1.46 and 4.44am on Wednesday, and the runway has since reopened.
Flight volumes are typically lower at this time of day. FlightRadar24 showed that during this period, eight arriving cargo and passenger flights were diverted to Cheongju or Jeju Airport in South Korea, and a Chinese cargo plane departing from Shanghai was diverted to Yantai, China.
Several more landings were delayed and takeoffs delayed by several hours.
North Korea said the balloons were retaliation for a propaganda campaign in South Korea by North Korean defectors and activists, who regularly send balloons carrying food, medicine, money and leaflets critical of the North’s leaders.
South Korea said the items carried by the North Korean balloons included items printed with Hello Kitty characters, tattered clothing and soil containing traces of human feces and parasites.
South Korea’s military said on Wednesday that about 100 balloons had fallen to the ground between Tuesday and Wednesday, mostly in the capital Seoul and surrounding Gyeonggi Province. Most people only carry pieces of paper.
