By Cho Jae-hyon
Leaflets flown in by North Korea used to be spotted in Seoul until the late 1970s. They were full of unsophisticated propaganda about how happily the people lived under the leadership of their “Great Leader” Kim Il-sung.
The content of the leaflets, known as “ppira” in Korean, was ridiculous even in the eyes of elementary school children and didn’t serve to shake up the South at all. They eventually disappeared as the South outran the North in economic growth.
And decades later, it is the South that is aggressively dropping “paper bombs” into the North. In a bid to spur the people in the most isolated country on the planet to rise up against their “Dear Leader,” the military and conservative civic groups have recently been flying column-like balloons stuffed with leaflets about pro-democracy protests in Egypt, Libya and other African nations.
Not surprisingly, the North is threatening to fire shots across the border.
North Korean defectors who have led the campaign with support from the government say they will continue to send the flyers.
However, they face a growing protest from within the South. Their campaign has ratcheted up the anxiety levels of residents in Paju, a city near the land border with the North, after the communist nation threatened to strike the area where the helium-filled balloons were launched.
The residents in the northern city in Gyeonggi Province are vowing to stop defectors from flying the balloons even if they will have to confront them physically.
It’s quite natural for residents in Paju and other border villages to become nervous and anxious about the escalation of conflicts between the two Koreas, especially after the North’s shelling of Yeongpyeong Island. They want to see the standoff eased, which will increase the number of tourists visiting the area.
In his speech to mark the March 1 Independence Movement, President Lee Myung-bak said the government is willing to help the North and is ready to talk with the communist state at any time with an open heart.
Lee said the time has come for the two Koreas to open a new future. But his conciliatory remarks, made during almost every speech to celebrate national anniversaries, sound so hollow and jarring as his words have not been matched with deeds.
What’s most conspicuous in the Lee administration’s policy toward the North is its psychological campaign.
But is the campaign working? It’s unknown how many balloons have successfully dropped leaflets in the North and how many people there have gotten their hands on them.
Even if many North Koreans somehow read them and get to know what’s happening in Libya, would they be impressed?
Chances are slim that they will be instigated by propaganda pamphlets to take to the street on a mass scale to shout such slogans as “Down with Kim Jong-il.” The North is neither Libya nor Egypt.
What’s the purpose of sending the flyers? It’s aimed to get North Koreans to realize how absurdly they are kept in the dark by their totalitarian leader.
However, the leaflets seem only to irritate the North to the point of hysteria, heightening unnecessary tension on the Korean Peninsula.
To make North Korean people realize how they have been blindfolded by their “Dear Leader,” giving them more opportunities to taste this “decadent and capitalistic” South Korea through a culture wave or “hallyu” would be much more effective than sending leaflets.
It is known that South Korean films and TV dramas are popular on the black market in the North. What if K-pop girl groups performed in Pyongyang and other cities there? It would melt away even the hearts of the top military brass.
Cultural exchanges would have more profound impact on cracking open the tightly sealed society ― “hallyu bomb” not “paper bomb” will do the work.
How many North Koreans know that Kim Jong-chol, second son of leader Kim Jong-il, is an avid fan of Eric Clapton?
Park Sang-hak, a defector and head of the Fighters for Free North Korea who has spearheaded the psychological anti-North campaign, plans to let the news of Jong-chol’s recent trip to Singapore to attend Clapton’s concert be known to North Koreans. Park says the group will float 200,000 leaflets plus DVDs across the border today, with video footage carrying news of Jong-chol’s recent trip to the Clapton concert.
This decades-old method of floating leaflets across the border should be restrained as it won’t help make the reclusive state a more open society. It will only give the authoritarian regime an excuse to more tightly control its people.
Instead, take steps to give them opportunities to watch Girls’ Generation or Eric Clapton perform in person not through DVDs falling from the sky.