South Korea reiterated Friday that Seoul activists’ move to send anti-Pyongyang leaflets via balloon across the inter-Korean border should not threaten the safety of border-area residents.
A day earlier, leading anti-North Korea activist Park Sang-hak made an attempt to launch balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets and copies of DVDs of the controversial U.S. movie “The Interview.”
But he delayed the plans after being confronted by police.
The unification ministry handling inter-Korean affairs said that the government cannot curb the leaflet launch as it is a basic right of expressing the freedom of speech, but the move should not pose serious threats to residents living near the border.
“The Seoul government cannot forcefully deter the leaflet launch without legal grounds as the leaflet launch is a matter of freedom of speech,” Lim Byeong-cheol, spokesman at the unification ministry, said at a press briefing.
“But the freedom of speech should also not put the safety of others at risk or disrupt public order. So the government will deal with this issue by taking into account both guaranteeing basic rights and protecting the safety of residents in a balanced manner.”
Seoul activists’ leaflet launch has been one of the main sources of inter-Korean tension in recent months as North Korea has vowed to retaliate against such moves.
Park said Thursday that he was about to send 300,000 leaflets and 100,000 DVDs of and USBs with “The Interview,” a U.S. fictional comedy about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, to the North via balloon.
The move was a turnaround from his pledge made in late March to suspend the leaflet campaign amid growing North Korean military threats and worsening public opinion against his plans here.
In October last year, the North fired machine guns at balloons launched by activists. Some bullet rounds landed in the South’s territory, but no one was hurt.
Activists in the South often send anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets, including U.S. dollar bills, using balloons across the border to criticize the North Korean regime. (Yonhap)
