A North Korean defectors’ group has sent about 20 large plastic balloons carrying propaganda leaflets against the North Korean regime across the border into the North, the group’s chief said Monday.
Containing 300,000 flyers criticizing the regime and 2,000 USB sticks loaded with K-pop content, the balloons were launched from Ganghwa Island near the western inter-Korean border late Friday, Park Sang-hak, head of the Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK), said.
According to a video of the action, a banner tied to the balloons read, “Kim Jong-un, he is nothing but an irreversible traitor and an enemy of our people.”
Park accused the North Korean leader of trying to block inter-Korean reunification and to perpetuate his reign.
“We’ve sent the anti-North Korea leaflets for the North Korean compatriots who have become modern-time slaves,” he said.
North Korean defector groups in South Korea, such as the FFNK, have sent big plastic balloons carrying leaflets over to the North in what they say is a bid to fre
e North Korean people from the tyrannical North Korean regime with outside information.
Citing the sensitivity of inter-Korean relations, the South Korean government has repeatedly requested these groups to refrain from such activities, as North Korea has bristled strongly against such balloons and even threatened to shoot them down.
The unification ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs said it factors in the Constitutional Court’s ruling in dealing with such matters.
In September, the court ruled that a clause in the revised Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act that bans the launching of anti-Pyongyang leaflets is unconstitutional, saying it excessively restricts the right to freedom of expression.
The ministry still said “appropriate measures” could be taken in the event relevant situations are feared to threaten the safety of nearby residents in an apparent reference to police activities.
Source: Yonhap News Agency