N. Korean garbage balloons equipped with GPS

[Anchor]

It has been confirmed that some of the garbage balloons released by North Korea are equipped with a satellite positioning system, GPS.

Concerns have also been raised that these balloons could be weaponized beyond simple location tracking.

Reporter Kim Yong-jun has the details.

[Report]

The garbage balloons launched by the North can be broadly divided into the balloon section and the falling section.

There is a heating timer between the balloon section and the falling section, and after a certain period, the bag disintegrates due to heat, spreading the garbage.

The GPS device was attached to this heating timer and has been confirmed to have been collected in the Seoul and Gyeonggi areas.

Additionally, the GPS device is capable of transmitting and receiving signals, suggesting that North Korea has been tracking the balloon's movement in real-time based on changes in the wind.

This is similar to the method used for launching radiosondes equipped with GPS and sensors to observe atmospheric pressure, temperature, and humidity in the upper atmosphere.

If the balloon's payload can be dropped at a desired location, there are concerns it could be developed into a weapon.

A military official stated that while the North could utilize the insights gained from launching thousands of balloons, the lack of a positioning device would reduce the accuracy.

Experts analyze that it can only provide a rough estimate of the direction and timing of the flight.

[Lee Chun-keun/Visiting Expert at Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning: "When we talk about weaponization, it would require precise guidance and thrust to move to a specific area, or communication capabilities to detonate accurately in a specific area, but that is quite limited and difficult with a primitive device like a balloon."]

National Security Director Shin Won-sik also stated that while the possibility of weaponizing the balloons cannot be completely ruled out, the North already possesses an enormous number of means to weaponize, calling it an excessive interpretation.

This is KBS News, Kim Yong-jun reporting.