Military sent propaganda leaflets to N. Korea 23 times last year: probe

Aactivists prepare to send balloons carrying anti-regime messages to North Korea in Paju, a city near the inter-Korean border, April 27. Courtesy of North Korean Defectors Family Association

The military sent propaganda leaflets to North Korea at least 23 times last year under the former President Yoon Suk Yeol administration, following an order issued the previous year to resume leaflet operations, a lawmaker said Wednesday.

The office of ruling party Rep. Choo Mi-ae disclosed the information, citing the result of a defense ministry probe, as Yoon faces charges of sending drones to North Korea last year to provoke a retaliation and use it as a pretext for his declaration of martial law last December.

The National Security Council approved a decision to resume leaflet operations in October 2023 before carrying them out between February and November last year ahead of Yoon's failed martial law bid on Dec. 3, according to the probe results submitted to Choo's office.

The decision by the security council to resume such operations came shortly after the Constitutional Court ruled a law banning such campaigns unconstitutional in September 2023, citing freedom of expression. Leaflet operations had been suspended since July 2017.

Then Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, then Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho and other security officials participated in the security council meeting to decide on the resumption, the lawmaker's office said. Key details, including the grounds on which the resumption was approved, however, remain unknown as the meeting's results have been classified.

Following the decision, which Shin conveyed to the military in late 2023, the military's propaganda warfare unit distributed leaflets across 35 target areas, including major North Korean cities, such as Pyongyang and Wonsan, as well as military bases, between Feb. 18 and Nov. 15.

North Korea has long bristled against the military's loudspeaker broadcasts and leaflets sent by activists over fears of outside information that could pose a threat to its ruling regime.

In May last year, the North resumed its own leaflet operations, sending thousands of trash-filled balloons across the border into South Korea, claiming that Seoul first initiated leaflet campaigns against its regime.

The latest revelation comes after a special counsel team concluded earlier this week that Yoon began preparations for his short-lived imposition of martial law in or before October 2023, more than a year before the declaration on Dec. 3, 2024.

Following the conclusion, the defense ministry launched a special investigative unit to further look into allegations involving the military in the martial law bid.