North Korea confirms trash sent to South, mocks Seoul for 'fuss'

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's powerful sister on Wednesday mocked the "goblins of liberal democracy" in Seoul for complaining about balloons of waste apparently including feces sent over the border, and pledged more could follow.

South Korean media shared photographs of exploded white balloons bearing garbage bags full of trash and what appeared to be excrement, after Seoul's military blasted Pyongyang for the "low class" stunt.

The North had warned over the weekend that it would shower border areas in "mounds of wastepaper and filth" to punish Seoul.

Kim Yo Jong -- who is the leader's sister and one of his regime's key spokespeople -- confirmed that "a large amount of waste paper and rubbish" was "scattered in the border and deep areas" of South Korea, beginning late Tuesday.

"We have tried something they have always been doing, but I cannot understand why they are making a fuss as if they were hit by (a) shower of bullets," she said in a statement carried late Wednesday by the official Korean Central News Agency.

Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that "unidentified objects believed to be North Korean propaganda leaflets have been identified in the Gyeonggi-Gangwon border area and the military is taking action".

"Citizens should refrain from outdoor activities, do not come into contact with any unknown objects, and report them to the nearest military base or police," it said in a statement sent to AFP, adding that the North's actions "clearly violate international laws".

"We sternly warn the North to immediately stop its inhumane and low-class actions," it added.

But Kim Yo Jong blasted what she called a double standard -- that the North's balloons were illegal, but similar items lofted by South Korean activists represented freedom of expression.

"Are 'freedom of expression' and 'international law' defined according to the direction in which balloons fly?" she said glibly.

- 'Goblins of liberal democracy' -

She said the trash should be seen "as 'sincere presents' to the goblins of liberal democracy who are crying for the 'guarantee for freedom of expression'".

"We make it clear that we will respond to the ROK clans on case-to-case