North Korea has again launched balloons presumed to be carrying trash toward South Korea, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday, just three days after a similar launch.

The JCS said the balloons appeared to be traveling toward the northern part of Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul and advised the public not to touch fallen balloons and to report them to the military or police.

With the latest launch, North Korea has sent more than 2,000 trash-filled balloons into the South over nine occasions in retaliation for anti-Pyongyang leaflets that North Korean defectors in South Korea send to North Korea using balloons.

On Thursday, South Korea restarted propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts toward North Korea in response to the North's repeated launch of trash-filled balloons into the South.

The JCS on Friday said it will continue the propaganda broadcasts and warned of "more powerful" measures, such as expanding them to a full-scale campaign in the event of additional provocations.

North Korea has bristled against the loudspeaker campaigns, as well as anti-Pyongyang leaflets, on fears that an influx of outside information could pose a threat to the Kim Jong-un regime. (Yonhap)