Activists to resume flying anti-N. Korea leaflets

SEOUL, Dec. 25 (Yonhap) -- Spurning a government request, a conservative South Korean civic group said Thursday it will resume sending anti-communist leaflets across the inter-Korean border in January, a move likely to be seen by Pyongyang as highly provocative.

The activists, many of whom are North Korean defectors or family members of South
Koreans abducted by the North, had been regularly flying balloons across the
border carrying leaflets that denounce Pyongyang's regime.
"Neither the North nor the South Korean government appear willing to actively
solve the issue of South Korean abductees," said Choi Seong-yong, head of civic
group called Families of Abducted and Detained in North Korea. "The government no
longer has the right to ask us to discontinue flying the leaflets."
Most groups temporarily suspended leafleting activities earlier this month after
South Korea's ruling Grand National Party asked them to stop for the sake of
inter-Korean relations, which have gradually soured since the inauguration of
conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
Lee has taken a hardline approach towards Pyongyang, a reversal from the policies
of engagement pushed by his liberal predecessors.
In reaction to Seoul's unwillingness to stop the leafleting, Pyongyang expelled
hundreds of South Koreans from a joint industrial complex in the border city of
Kaesong in the on Dec. 1, further straining inter-Korean ties.
About 300,000 leaflets have been printed and are ready to be sent out early next
month, Choi said.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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