Stink bomb diplomacy? North Korea sends balloons packed with used toilet paper to South Korea

When one hears that a country did something to send a message to its neighbouring country, one expects something like a ceasefire violation, cancellation of proposed talks or some provocative statement made by a country’s leader. [caption id=“attachment_2612744” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Well, international affairs just got a bit weirder in the world as North Korea decided that to escalate the on-going propaganda war with South Korea, it needs to send floating balloons full of used toilet paper across the border into South Korean territory. These balloons, apart from used toilet paper, also contain cigarette butts and propaganda leaflets denouncing the US and South Korean leader Park Geun-hye, calling her ‘political filth’, according to this report in Korea JoongAng Daily. The South Korean military was first afraid that the objects packed into the balloons might be hazardous biochemical substances. “There was concern that North Korea may have sent biochemical substances to harm our people, but after analyzing the content, it was just trash,” the report quoted a South Korean police official as saying. The report added that last month, a balloon had sent to South Korean territory had been equipped with explosives and a timer. However, the balloon failed to explode.