Hello Kitty To Human Waste, Fill In North Korea's Waste Balloon To South Korea

UNSPLASH/Musab Al Rawahi ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - Among the garbage that balloons carry across the border from North Korea, it is known that the items printed with the character Hello Kitty, outdated clothes, and soil that contain traces of human excrement include parasites.

North Korea has flown balloons carrying garbage since late May, in which hundreds of balloons landed in South Korea. South Korea deployed military explosives and a chemical and biological warfare team to examine these objects.

The items also include donated clothes from South Korea that were cut and cut, as well as public waste that appears to have been collected, South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handled North Korea, said in a report.

North Korea says the balloons are retaliation for the propaganda campaign of North Korean defectors and activists in South Korea who routinely send balloons carrying food, medicines, money, and leaflets criticizing North Korean leaders.

Parasitics and traces of dirt were found in several plastic bags, which showed the pockets contained fertilizers that used human waste, the ministry said.

North Korea, which is suffering from a chronic food shortage, relies on South Korea for large shipments of chemical fertilizers until the aid was discontinued in 2007 when Pyongyang accelerated arms development.

The garbage contains Mickey Mouse's used character clothes, Howls the Pooh, and Hello Kitty as well as socks, gloves and child's clothes that have been patched thick, a mask with a hand-tewed cloth, and two layers of a shirt that were sewn together.