In the early hours of Sunday, North Korea sent around 330 balloons with trash towards the territory of South Korea, although some of them probably failed to reach their destination, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said, citing the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"As of 10 am [local time, 1:00 am GMT], the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it had detected some 330 waste-carrying balloons launched by the North since Saturday, with more than 80 of them landing inside South Korea and the rest apparently failing to reach the country," the agency reported.

According to the report, many balloons fell into the sea.

South Korea’s presidential National Security Council (NSC), chaired by NSC adviser Chang Ho-jin will hold a meeting later in the day to discuss a potential response.

According to KCNA, around 3,500 balloons carrying some 15 tons of trash such as cigarette butts, cloth, paper waste, and plastic were sent by North Korea across the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas from May 28 to June 2. Pyongyang said it was a tit-for-tat response to what it called South Korea’s "scattering leaflets and various dirty things" over the border.