S. Korean activists send 1.5 million anti-Pyongyang leaflets into N. Korea

SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean religious group said Saturday that it
has flown a fresh batch of leaflets condemning North Korean leader Kim Jong-il
into the North, a move seen by Pyongyang as highly provocative.

The North Korea Christian Association, a Seoul-based group, flew 26 balloons
carrying a total of 1.5 million leaflets condemning North Korea's regime and its
leader from Baeknyeong Island, near the inter-Korean sea border on the West Sea,
on Friday, said the group's representative, Lee Min-bok. The group also sent
plastic bags carrying 500 socks, stockings, toothpaste, toothbrushes, aspirin,
ball pens and lighters, he said.
The communist country has increasingly expressed its anger over the flyers
critical of the country's dictatorship and the private life of its leader sent by
Christian groups and North Korean defectors. Scuffles also erupted recently in
South Korea as progressive civic activists tried to physically prevent such
leaflets from being sent for fear they will further strain chilled inter-Korean
relations.
Most of the groups behind the leaflets have temporarily suspended their campaign
after South Korea's ruling Grand National Party recently requested them to show
restraint amid strained relations with the North. But Lee insisted his
organization will continue flying the balloons.
"Regardless of other organizations, we will continue sending leaflets should
weather conditions be met," Lee told Yonhap News Agency over the telephone.
According to the national weather agency, winds in the region were blowing from
the southwest on Friday.
Pyongyang reportedly delivered a fresh warning this week against the move. In
meetings with South Korean businesspeople operating in the joint industrial
complex in Kaesong, Lt. Gen. Kim Yong-chol, head of the policy planning office of
the North's National Defense Commission, denounced conservative lawmakers' move
to fund the activist groups, according to Kim Kyu-chol, head of the
non-governmental Forum for Inter-Korean Relations.
Inter-Korean relations have dramatically soured since conservative South Korean
President Lee Myung-bak took office in February. Lee's conservative government
suspended food aid and demanded North Korea come clean on its nuclear ambitions
and human rights conditions in return for Seoul's assistance.
North Korea retaliated by evicting hundreds of South Koreans at the joint
industrial complex as of Dec 1. It also curtailed border traffic and halted South
Korean tours to a mountain resort on the country's east coast. Pyongyang has
warned that further sanctions on the industrial complex will follow if Seoul
continues with its hardline stance against the North.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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