Members of South Korea’s anti-Pyongyang civic groups said yesterday they will resume sending leaflets toward the North, in protest of Seoul’s decision to cut funds to the groups.
For years, the activists have sent massive balloons north containing thousands of leaflets criticizing alleged corruption in the North and urging the public to rise up against the government.
Choi Sung-young, head of Abductees’ Family Union, said his group and Fighters for Free North Korea would resume the leaflet campaign in January. Choi is a son of a local fisherman who was kidnapped by North Korea decades ago.
“The two Koreas aren’t exactly talking to each other, while the North shows no signs of solving the Kaesong Industrial Complex problem or the shooting accident at the Mount Kumgang resort and South Korea’s Unification Ministry slashed the budget for North Korean refugees,” Choi told reporters. “The South Korean government is no longer entitled to ask for us to stop sending the leaflets,” he added.
Choi said the groups would continue working together to send more than 300,000 new leaflets next month.
The anti-North leaflets have become the biggest political bone of contention in inter-Korea relations, as Pyongyang repeatedly denounced them as an attempt to destabilize its government. In retaliation, it put tough restrictions on operations of the Kaesong complex.
[JoonAng Daily]
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