Seoul’s Unification Ministry says none of the anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent by a defector group on Monday crossed into North Korea. 

The ministry said on Tuesday it reached the conclusion after taking into account wind directions when the purported launch was made as well as the list of items the group was found to have purchased to send the materials. 

Contrary to the group leader’s claim to have used 20 helium gas-filled balloons to send 500-thousand leaflets, the group is believed to have bought only enough helium gas to float one balloon and thus likely sent far fewer leaflets. 

The ministry’s explanation came hours after one helium balloon carrying photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, his powerful sister Kim Yo-jong and regime founder Kim Il-sung, was found in Hongcheon County. This is some 70 kilometers southeast of the Gyeonggi provincial city of Paju, where activist Park Sang-hak and his group Fighters for a Free North Korea claimed they launched the leaflets on Monday night. 

The ministry said pamphlets, one dollar U.S. bills and SD cards the group claimed to have sent along with the leaflets were not found in the balloon either, casting more suspicion over the authenticity of the group’s claims.