Anti-North Korea leaflet law faces backlash from within and outside South Korea

North Korea leader's sister Kim Yo-jong is seen during the inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang, Sept. 18, 2018, in this file photo. The new anti-leaflet law is being criticized for following Kim's June statement calling on the South to stop the sending of anti-North Korea leaflets toward the North. Korea Times file

By Do Je-hae

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) passage of a bill at the national Assembly prohibiting the sending of leaflets with anti-North Korea messages across the border is facing a strong backlash from defectors' groups and the opposition as well as the international community.

Park Sang-hak, the head of the Fighters for a Free North Korea, a North Korean defectors' group, said Tuesday that he will file a petition with the Constitutional Court against the so-called "anti-leaflet law," which can hand down a prison term of three years or a maximum fine of 30 million won to people sending messages critical of the North Korean regime via leaflets or broadcasts.

The DPK pushed ahead with passing the bill despite a protest from the conservative opposition People Power Party late Monday evening. The bill came after a statement from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister Kim Yo-jong in June in which she strongly denounced such leaflets and called on Seoul to do something about them. The opposition and activists for North Korean human rights such as Park have derided it as legislation "submitting to Kim Yo-jong's order."

"The Kim Yo-jong command law is a humiliation and an encroachment on the freedom of expression. We will file a petition with the Constitutional Court when the law takes effect," Park said in a statement. His group has been one of the most active in sending anti-North Korea leaflets.

The law is also triggering negative reaction from the U.S. Congress, stoking concerns that the legislation could impact relations with the U.S. under the incoming Joe Biden administration.

Republican Congressman Chris Smith voiced "serious concern" over South Korea's growing disregard of fundamental civil liberties, in a statement.

"I am troubled that legislators in an ostensibly vibrant democracy would contemplate criminalizing conduct aimed at promoting democracy and providing spiritual and humanitarian succor to people suffering under one of the cruelest communist dictatorships in the world," Smith said. "The people of North Korea are suffering under a brutal regime. Humanitarian and religious non-governmental organizations launch balloons containing Bibles, videos and information denied people living in the North, giving them hope and objective information instead of despair and communist propaganda. Why in the world would legislators in the free South want to not only stop that, but also put people in jail for simply sharing information?"

The legislation came as the international community also protested the government's weak stance on the issue of human rights in North Korea. The International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea (ICNK), an association of 47 groups representing 300 non-governmental organizations, wrote an open letter to President Moon Jae-in, Tuesday.

"We greatly regret your recent decision again not to co-sponsor a resolution on human rights situation in North Korea at the United Nations General Assembly," the ICNK said.

The coalition said it was not enough for the South to say it would work with the international community to improve the human rights situation in North Korea. "This abandonment of South Korea's crucial leadership in promoting human rights issues in North Korea sends the message to North Korea that human rights issues can be ignored for the sake of political negotiations."

The presidential office said it had no comment on the letter.

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