Political dynamics of propaganda leaflets and inter-Korean relations
Park Sang-hak, fifth from left, head of the Fighters for Free North, a North Korean defectors' group in the South, shows propaganda leaflets the group recently sent to the North, during a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, June 8. Fourth from left is Rep. Ji Seong-ho, a defector-turned lawmaker with the main opposition United Future Party. Yonhap
By Jung Da-min
While South Korea wants to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first-ever inter-Korean summit on June 15 which it believes helped “thaw” inter-Korean relations, North Korea is increasing its vitriol toward the South over the sending of propaganda leaflets across the border by a defectors' group.
On May 31, members of the Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK), led by North Korean defector Park Sang-hak, flew balloons carrying propaganda leaflets from the border city of Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province. They accused North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un of being a hypocrite in the leaflets, and also sent USB storage devices containing news and information about prosperous South Korea.
Four days later, Kim Yo-jong, a top North Korean official and the sister of the country's leader Kim Jong-un, strongly warned that Seoul would “pay a dear price” if it keeps allowing such hostile activities.
The South was quick to respond to the North's call: The Ministry of Unification the same day issued a statement calling on anti-North Korea groups to refrain from sending such leaflets. Local governors of the border cities also submitted a request to the government to ban such activities for the safety of their residents. The government also filed a complaint against FFNK and another group led by Park's brother for “violating inter-Korean exchange laws” and launched a process to cancel their licenses.
But the tension between the Koreas was further escalated when the North severed all inter-Korean communication lines starting noon Tuesday. The North has not replied to calls from the South since then.
In a recent article carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the North continued to accuse the South of not having a “proper attitude,” saying the leaflet sending is in violation of inter-Korean peace agreements like the Panmunjeom Declaration announced on April 27, 2018 and the Comprehensive Military Agreement signed on Sept. 19 the same year, in which the Koreas agreed to stop “all hostile activities” toward each other.
The article said that “leaflet scattering is the most undisguised psychological warfare conducted for the purpose of neutralizing the other warring partner and it is, in actuality, an act of a preemptive attack that precedes a war.”
Propaganda leaflets as symbol of hostility
In fact, the sending of propaganda leaflets has long been a thorny issue between the Koreas, with both engaged in a “paper war” after the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, sending such leaflets back and forth on a regular basis.
Among South Koreans, such leaflets have often been called “ppira,” the Japanese pronunciation of the English word “bill,” due to Japan's influence during its 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula.
“Ppira” have been a symbol of hostilities between the Koreas over the past decades, while being used by both sides to promote the “superiority” of each's system over the other's ― the socialist regime of the North and the capitalism of the South.
Suzanne Scholte, second from left, an American human rights activist, together with members of the Fighters for aFree North Korea, holds a balloon containing anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets before letting it loose at Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, in this April 29, 2016, photo. Korea Times file
Copies of images of propaganda leaflets sent to South Korea from North Korea, shared on social network platforms, are shown in this November, 2017 photo. Korea Times file
For those in their 50s or 60s in the South, ppiras often recall their school days when they were rewarded with school items such as notebooks, for collecting those sent by the North and handing them in to schools or police stations.
Kim, 57, recalling when she was working as a teacher at a high school in the border city of Gimpo in 1980s, said that she used to give notebooks to her students who brought in such propaganda leaflets.
“I remember that I used to head to nearby mountains with my students to collect such propaganda leaflets,” Kim told The Korea Times.
Although North Korea is now strongly condemning propaganda leaflets coming from the South Korean side, it has only been just a couple of years since the North Koreans “stopped” ― as they argue ― sending their own propaganda leaflets after inter-Korean “peace agreements” were made in 2018.
Before inter-Korean relations started to thaw after President Moon Jae-in took power in May 2017, ppiras from North Korea were often found here under the conservative governments of former President Lee Myung-bak from 2008 to 2013 and former President Park Geun-hye from 2013 to 2017.
Propaganda leaflets promoting North Korea's socialist regime that were found in Seoul's Gangnam area in January 2017 / Yonhap
However, looking back over the history of propaganda leaflets over the past decades since the armistice, they typically drew more attention when inter-Korean relations were thawing than when tensions were heightening.
In 2000, ppiras from the North which described former President Kim Young-sam and then-main opposition Grand Nation Party leader Lee Hoi-chang as “anti-unification” politicians were found in the capital areas of Seoul in September, months after then-President Kim Dae-jung held the historic first inter-Korean summit with then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, June 15.
The two political heavyweights resented the description and strongly condemned the “illegality” of such leaflets.
Twenty years since then, now it is the North Korean side that resents the airborne leaflets.
The latest case, however, is causing conflict among South Koreans as well, with one side saying the sending of such leaflets should be banned so as not to provoke the North and guarantee the safety of people in the border cities, while the other side says freedom of speech should be guaranteed.
North Korea aims at political gains from heightened tension
Some political watchers said that causing such a conflict among South Koreans was intended by the North which wants to increase pressure on the Moon government.
Fyodor Tertitskiy, a senior researcher at Kookmin University, said that North Korea is calling on the South to take “practical” measures that can help the North Korean leadership take “full” control on the information its people are getting.
“North Korea thinks that what it has so far received from the South are only empty words and a political show that has helped promote Moon's approval ratings,” Tertitskiy said. “Kim Yo-jong's message was the North's ultimatum to the South that they would not be engaged in a 'game of peace and new era' any more unless there comes a practical measure such as the banning of sending propaganda leaflets.”
Cho Seong-ryoul, a senior adviser at the Institute for National Security Strategy, said that North Korea seemed to have judged that the current political situation in the South is favorable to the North. In the April 15 general election here, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, which has been pursuing an engagement policy toward the North, won a super majority in the 21st National Assembly.
Cho also said the North also seems to be trying to deter the political activities of defectors in the South after two ― former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong-ho and Ji Seong-ho, an advocate for North Korean human rights ― were elected as lawmakers of the main opposition Untied Future Korea.
“North Korea is seeking to restrict the political activities of defectors-turned-lawmakers by having the South's National Assembly establish a law that could make the Panmunjeom Declaration a legally binding agreement,” Cho said. “The North wants to minimize the impact of their political activities in cases where their election is known to North Korean residents.”
But Cho added that North Korea's attempt to pressure the Moon government and take an advantageous position in inter-Korean relations through it will not bring about a favorable situation for them when it is “ruining” on the Moon government's engagement efforts.