The South Korean military estimates North Korea floated around 500 trash-carrying balloons across the border since Wednesday.

Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) said it identified about 500 balloons launched by the North as of 8 a.m. Thursday, adding that 480 of them landed in South Korea. 

The balloons that were found mostly carried scraps of paper and plastics, but no harmful materials, according to the JCS.

North Korea has sent thousands of trash balloons over ten occasions since it conducted its first launch on May 28 in response to anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns carried out by defector groups in South Korea. 

The South Korean military is conducting loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts toward the North near the border in response to the North’s continued balloon launches.