Vice defense chief, U.S. Army secretary urge N. Korea to stop trash balloon launches

South Korea's vice defense chief and the U.S. Army secretary on Wednesday urged North Korea to stop launches of trash-carrying balloons as they met for talks on security cooperation in Seoul, the defense ministry said. Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho and Christine Wormuth, secretary of the U.S. Army, made the call in the wake of the North's launches of thousands of trash balloons into the South since late May. "The two sides made clear that such provocative acts by North Korea will create the opposite effect and strongly urged an immediate halt," the ministry said in a release. The North has staged the balloon campaign in a tit-for-tat move against anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent across the border by North Korean defectors and activists in the South via balloons. During the talks, the two officials also expressed "deep concern" over the potential impact by growing military cooperation between Russia and North Korea on regional and global security, it said. Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed a "comprehensive strategic partnership" agreement that includes a mutual defense clause during their summit in Pyongyang. Kim and Wormuth agreed to continue strengthening joint exercises to further develop the allies' combined operational capabilities. Separately, Wormuth also met Gen. Park An-su, the South Korean Army's chief of staff, on Wednesday and discussed ways to deepen cooperation in logistics and advanced technologies, according to the ministry. Source: Yonhap News Agency