The take-offs and landings of Seoul's Incheon International Airport in South Korea was disrupted on Wednesday for about three hours before dawn because of North Korea's launch of debris-filled balloons, an airport spokesman was quoted by Reuters as saying.
A balloon landed on the tarmac near Passenger Terminal 2 and all three runways at Incheon were temporarily closed, the spokesman said.
North Korea has been sending balloons filled with garbage across the border into South Korea since late May, with hundreds landing in South Korea.
Several balloons were spotted in and around the airport's borders, the spokesman said, adding that it was not the first time operations at the airport - which is about 40 kilometers from the North Korean border - had been disrupted for similar reasons.
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The disruption to domestic and international flights occurred between 1:46 a.m. and 4:44 a.m. and the runways have since reopened, the Incheon International Airport Corporation said.
Flight volume at this time of day is usually low. FlightRadar24 showed that during that time, eight inbound cargo and passenger flights were diverted to Chongju or Jeju-do airports in South Korea, and one China Cargo cargo flight from Shanghai was diverted to Yantai, China.
Several more landings were delayed and departures were delayed by several hours.
North Korea said the balloons were in retaliation for a propaganda campaign by North Korean defectors and activists in the South, who regularly send balloons containing food, medicine, money and leaflets critical of the North's leaders.
The South Korean military said on Wednesday that about 100 balloons fell to the ground between Tuesday and Wednesday, mostly in the capital Seoul and surrounding Gyeonggi province. Most carried only scraps of paper.