A rooftop of a residential building in Goyang, Gyeonggi, caught fire after an object suspected to be a waste balloon burst and ignited into flames around 2:36 p.m. on Wednesday.
North Korea sent over more than 480 trash-carrying balloons to South Korea on Wednesday, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Thursday.
As of 8 a.m. Thursday, the South Korean military identified approximately 500 North Korean trash balloons, and no additional balloons are currently being tracked in the sky.
One of the trash-carrying balloons apparently exploded and caught fire on the rooftop of a residential building in Goyang, Gyeonggi.
Twenty-eight firefighters and 11 fire trucks extinguished the blaze within 25 minutes, with no casualties reported. The fire burned an area of six square meters (64 square feet).
![](https://www.koreadailyus.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/0725-balloon-fire.jpg)
Fire authorities believe a detonator attached to a string connecting the balloon and waste-carrying bags caused the rooftop fire. The device makes the balloon explode after a specific time has passed.
The Seoul Regional Office of Aviation intermittently prohibited take-offs and landings at Gimpo International Airport in Gyeonggi between 5:22 p.m. and 6:11 p.m. on Wednesday.
An official from the Korea Airports Corporation said the air traffic authority took the measure because an “unconfirmed object that appeared to be a waste-carrying balloon was floating in the sky above Korean Air’s headquarters near the airport.”
Wednesday’s balloon release marked Pyongyang’s tenth trash-laden balloon launch this year, following its ninth launch three days earlier on Sunday.
On Wednesday, the trash-filled balloons were found at the presidential office compound, the U.S. military base in Yongsan District, central Seoul and the National Assembly in western Seoul.
BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]