Anti-North Korea leaflet response draws backlash

Main opposition United Future Party lawmakers, from left, Ji Seong-ho, Cho Tae-yong, Shin Won-sik and Suh Jung-sook, hold a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, Friday, to criticize the government's plan to legislate a ban on anti-North Korea leaflet campaigns. / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

The South Korean government's response to stop anti-North Korea leaflets being transported to the North from the South, announced Thursday, is raising some eyebrows as the announcement came mere hours after Pyongyang made a complaint.

Critics say Seoul is obeying the North Korean regime in order to keep its drive to engage with the North alive, while the North has kept quiet about its southern neighbor's protests against its repeated provocations.

On Thursday, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned that if South Korean authorities continue to tolerate the propaganda leaflets created and distributed by North Korean defectors and other activist groups, the North will cancel the inter-Korean military tension-reducing agreement made during the inter-Korean summit in September 2018 that bans all hostile acts including loud-speaker broadcasting and the scattering of leaflets along the border.

The barbed remarks came after Fighters for Free North Korea (FFNK), an organization of North Korean defectors, sent balloons carrying anti-North leaflets across the border, May 31. The North has been sensitive about the leaflet distribution out of concerns that it could undermine the authority of its leadership.

Kim, who serves as first vice department director of the party's Central Committee, also urged the South Korean government to “make a law” and “take thorough preventive measures” against the leaflet campaigns.

Four hours later, the unification ministry said the leaflet campaigns cause tensions and should be halted. Furthermore, it held an unscheduled press briefing and said it is planning to legislate a ban on the campaigns.

The defense ministry also said the leaflet campaign should be stopped as it ratchets up tensions in the border area, posing a threat to the safety and property of local residents.

And finally, Cheong Wa Dae condemned the campaigns, vowing to take stern measures against those participating in such activities. “The spreading of such leaflets is good for nothing. The government will sternly respond to any behavior that could harm national security,” a senior presidential aide said.

Lawmakers from the main opposition United Future Party slammed the government's response, Friday.

“We are confused over whether we are in South Korea or North Korea,” Reps. Cho Tae-yong, Shin Won-sik, Ji Seong-ho and Suh Jung-sook said in a joint press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul.

“So far, the Moon Jae-in administration has kept silent on the North's missile launches, while defending the North's gunfire at the border. Furthermore, it is now planning to make a law for the North, threatening South Koreans. We want to question for whom the government exists.”

Last November, the North carried out artillery firing drills on Changrin Islet just north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) and it recently fired bullets at a South Korean guard post in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Both of the incidents were in violation of the military agreement, but North Korea has yet to make an apology for them.

Park Sang-hak, the FFNK chairman, said his organization will continue to fly propaganda leaflets to the North. He plans to launch 1 million leaflets on June 25 in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the start of the 1950-53 Korean War.

“We have been doing this for 15 years and we are set to continue doing so,” he told The Korea Times.

“The envisioned legislation means destroying the Constitution as it could infringe upon freedom of expression.”

As Park noted, the plan to legislate a ban on the propaganda balloons could spark an outcry over the possible infringement of the right to free expression. In addition, it is expected to face backlash from conservative opposition parties, as seen in 2018 when a similar bill failed to pass at the National Assembly.