Inter-Korean propaganda leaflets examined in RAS lecture

More than 16,000 North Korean propaganda leaflets were found in Paju and Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, in July 2012, 12 years after the two Koreas agreed to stop the distribution of such leaflets in April 2000. Yonhap

By Jon Dunbar

• Published Jul 6, 2025 7:30 AM KST

Using propaganda leaflets in psychological warfare may sound like a thing of the past, but on the Korean Peninsula it's very much still a reality.

Jacco Zwetsloot, a self-described "student of Korean propaganda techniques for over two decades," will give a lecture for Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) Korea this Tuesday near central Seoul's Samgakji Station.

"For more than 70 years, printed leaflets have been one of the most persistent — and often perilous — tools in the contest for hearts and minds between North and South Korea," he wrote in an online invitation to the lecture. "From Cold War-era air drops by airplane to modern balloon launches by South Korean civic groups, these slips of paper have carried urgent messages over barbed wire and beyond ideology. At times fiercely political and at others surprisingly playful — or even seductive — their goal has always been the same: to influence, to destabilize, to encourage defections and to provoke doubt."

He will provide a discussion on the historical evolution of propaganda leaflets from both Koreas, the technologies and tactics used to deliver them and the shifting emotional tones and visual aesthetics embedded in their design.

According to him, "these small pieces of paper have evoked such fear and fascination" because they could lead to arrest or worse in both Koreas.

In the South, possessing North Korean propaganda carries a legal risk, and North Korean leaflets that are found are usually turned in to the authorities.

Zwetsloot added that he will not be displaying any authentic printed propaganda materials from either Korea at the lecture, instead relying on digital copies that are easily accessible online. For anyone wishing to see such materials in person, he recommended visiting the DMZ Museum in Goseong, Gangwon Province, which displays examples.

Zwetsloot holds a master’s degree in Korean studies from Leiden University, where his dissertation was on North Korean comic books. He is a senior adviser at the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Korea and host of the NK News Podcast.

The lecture will be held Tuesday at 7:20 p.m., in the basement of the Seoul Public Activities Center near Exit 8 of Samgakji Station on Seoul Metro lines 4 and 6. Entry costs 10,000 won, or 5,000 won for students of all ages with valid student ID, and is free for RAS Korea members.

Tracing the independence movement in Seodaemun

This weekend, historian Matt VanVolkenburg will lead an RAS Korea tour of Seoul's Seodaemun area, retracing the independence movement of the first half of the 20th century.

"In the Seodaemun area stand a number of preserved houses connected to the independence movement that have been converted to museums," VanVolkenburg wrote in an online introduction. "As the weather grows hotter and wetter, we will spend much of our time indoors as we move from museum to museum and learn about independence movement figures and Seodaemun’s history while also examining the ways in which the past has been preserved in the area."

The group will visit the newly opened National Memorial of the Korean Provisional Government, the Gyeonggyojang building where Kim Koo was assassinated, Donuimun Museum Village and a couple of historic houses that have been preserved and reopened to the public in recent years. This includes Dilkusha, the former home of Albert and Mary Taylor, and the Lee Hoe-yeong Memorial Hall that once housed foreign missionaries teaching at the nearby Baehwa Girls’ School.

The Seodaemun excursion starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday, and costs 30,000 won for RAS Korea members and 35,000 won for nonmembers.

Visit raskb.com for more information.