Photo : YONHAP News
The South Korean military said that some of the trash-laden balloons floated by North Korea across South Korea have been equipped with GPS transmitters.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) confirmed on Sunday that GPS transmitters were found in some of the North Korean balloons that have been collected by the military.
The military is analyzing them to look into the possibility of North Korea becoming capable of tracking the routes of floated balloons in real time using the GPS transmitters and dropping the objects attached to the balloons at a desired location.
The military believes that although North Korea has not been able to mount the GPS transmitters on all balloons due to limited funds, it is accumulating experience and data by monitoring the routes of some of the balloons.
According to the JCS, North Korea has floated over six thousand trash balloons to South Korea on 28 occasions since May 28.
The JCS said North Korea is estimated to have so far spent 600 million won on the balloon campaign.