S. Korea in efforts to placate N. Korea over propaganda leaflets

SEOUL, Nov. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea held an inter-agency meeting Wednesday to
discuss ways to stop activists from sending anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets
across the border, an activity fiercely protested by Pyongyang which has recently
stepped up retaliatory threats against Seoul.

The results of the meeting was not immediately made public.
The meeting, presided over by Vice Unification Minister Hong Yang-ho, was joined
by director general-level officials from the presidential office, the prime
minister's office, the state intelligence agency, police, foreign ministry, and
defense ministry, officials said.
Conservative activists here, mainly family members of those abducted by the
North, often fly balloons into North Korea laden with leaflets printed with
messages including statements on North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's reported
illness and calls for North Koreans to defect to the South. They have snubbed the
South Korean government's repeated requests to halt the activity which has
provoked the North Korean regime.
In protest, the North's military announced last week that it will strictly
control border crossings starting from Dec. 1.
The South Korean government announced earlier this week that it would seek legal
means to bar the spreading of such leaflets.
"We are reviewing various ways," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun had
said. "We are looking for legal grounds."
lcd@yna.co.kr
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