South Korea says trash balloons sent by North carry parasites, faeces, used Hello Kitty items

SEOUL - Trash balloons flying over the border from North Korea into the South carried articles printed with Hello Kitty characters, badly worn clothing, and soil containing traces of human faeces and parasites.

South Korea on June 24 said the North

had flown balloons carrying rubbish since late May,

with hundreds landing south of the border.

South Korea deployed military explosives units and chemical and biological warfare teams to inspect the objects.

The items included clothes donated from the South, which were slashed and cut up, and general rubbish that appeared to be hastily collected, said a report by the South Korean Unification Ministry, which handles matters involving North Korea.

North Korea has said the balloons were 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.

Parasites and human DNA were also found in the dirt in some of the plastic bags, which shows it contained fertiliser that used human faeces, the Unification Ministry added.

North Korea, which suffers a chronic food shortage, depended on South Korea for massive shipments of chemical fertiliser until such aid was suspended in 2007 as Pyongyang accelerated weapons development.

The trash contained worn items of clothing with Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and Hello Kitty characters as well as socks, gloves and children’s clothes that had been heavily patched up, masks with fabric stitched by hand and two layers of shirts sewn together.

Last week, the North warned it would send more balloons carrying rubbish. REUTERS