Defectors' group sends balloons carrying propaganda leaflets to N. Korea

GIMPO -- A North Korean defectors' group has sent 20 big balloons carrying propaganda leaflets, including those on the news of Yoon Suk-yeol's election as president, to North Korea across the western inter-Korean border, the group said Thursday.

Some 1 million anti-Pyongyang leaflets were sent over to North Korea in the latest leaflet campaign carried out in Gimpo, west of Seoul, on Monday-Tuesday, the Fighters for Free North Korea (FFNK) said in a press release.

Some of the leaflets were carrying the news of Yoon's election as president and his photos, the group said

"A great nation where a prosecutor has become a national leader," some of the leaflets read.

Through a revision of the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act last year, the South Korean government has been banning the sending of propaganda leaflets across the border, with people violating the law subject to up to three years in prison or a maximum fine of 30 million won ($23,700).

Park Sang-hak, the head of the defectors' group, is standing trial on charges of launching balloons full of anti-North Korea leaflets and $1 bills to North Korea across the Demilitarized Zone in Gyeonggi and Gangwon province on two occasions in April last year.

Before the law revision, the FFNK had often carried out such balloon campaigns in the hope of liberating North Korean people with news and information from the outside.

The FFNK argued in the press release that "North Korean leader Kim Jong-un threatened South Korea and the entire humanity with nuclear weapons and missiles in the latest military parade, putting South Korea's national security in an extremely precarious state."

Seoul's unification ministry handling inter-Korean affairs said it is currently working to figure out relevant details, including whether the group's assertion is true and whether the balloons were sent.

The ministry's basic position is to work toward addressing the matter in accordance with the spirit of the revised law on improving inter-Korean relations to ensure the safety and security of border area residents, an official told reporters on the customary condition of anonymity. (Yonhap)