50% of South Koreans support law banning sending anti-NK leaflets
This infographic shows the results of a poll conducted of 500 adults by Realmeter, Wednesday, in which 50 percent said they support the government's plan to ban the sending of anti-Pyongyang leaflets to North Korea, while 41.4 percent oppose it. Courtesy of Realmeter
By Jung Da-min
Half of South Koreans support the government's plan to establish a ban on sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets to North Korea, a survey showed Thursday.
In the poll conducted of 500 adults by Realmeter on Wednesday, 50 percent said they support the ban on people in the South sending propaganda leaflets over the border, while 41.1 percent said they oppose it. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level.
Controversies over the issue of propaganda leaflets have recently mounted after Kim Yo-jong, a top North Korean official and the sister of the country's leader Kim Jong-un, strongly criticized the South Korean authorities for allowing anti-North Korea activists to send leaflets criticizing the North's regime.
Her statement came four days after a civic group of North Korean defectors sent vinyl balloons carrying propaganda leaflets and USB storage devices containing news and information about the South Korean society from the border city of Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, May 31.
Although the South's Ministry of Unification announced, only hours after the statement came out, that it had been working on establishing a law to ban the sending of leaflets, the North has continued its protest by severing all inter-Korean communication lines starting Tuesday noon.
On Wednesday, the unification ministry said that it would file a legal complaint against two North Korean defectors' groups which recently sent anti-Pyongyang leaflets, for violating the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act that bans the sending of goods to North Korea without government permission.
South Koreans are divided over the expected ban. Those supporting the government's moves say sending leaflets should be banned not only to observe the spirit of inter-Korean peace agreements but also to secure the safety of South Korean residents in towns bordering the North. Those opposing such moves, however, say the issue of sending leaflets is about freedom of speech and should thus be guaranteed in a democratic society.