South Korea bans the flying of propaganda leaflets to North Korea
15 Dec, 2020 12:20 AM
4 minutes to read
Propaganda balloons over the Korean border. Photo / Twitter: @SkyNews
AP
By: Hyung-Jin Kim
South Korea s parliament on Monday (local time) approved contentious legislation criminalising the flying of propaganda leaflets by balloon toward North Korea, despite fierce criticism that the country is sacrificing freedom of expression to improve ties with the rival North.
The legislation passed with the support of 187 lawmakers, mostly governing party members who support President Moon Jae-in s policy of engagement with North Korea. Outnumbered opposition lawmakers didn t attend the vote after their attempt at delaying the balloting with non-stop speeches was foiled by governing party lawmakers and their allies who used their three-fifths super majority to halt the speeches in a separate vote.
Activists and defectors from North Korea have for years used huge helium-filled balloons to carry leaflets criticizing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and human rights record, USB sticks with information about world news, and US dollars. Observers say North Korean leader Kim Jong-un likely saw the leafleting as a threat to his absolute rule over his 25 million people, who mostly have little access to outside information.
Lawmakers aligned with Moon say the legislation is intended to avoid unnecessarily provoking North Korea, to ensure the safety of people who live near the border, and to secure stable relations with the North. Opponents accuse Moon of sympathizing excessively with North Korea or yielding to North Korean threats over the leafleting.
In this file photo, South Korean and US activists release balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets at a field near the Demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas in the border city of Paju on April 29, 2016. - AFP
SEOUL (Reuters): South Korea s Parliament passed a Bill on Monday (Dec 14) to ban the launching of propaganda leaflets into North Korea, a move that was condemned by rights activists as a violation of freedom of speech.
Groups run by North Korean defectors and other campaigners have for decades sent anti-Pyongyang leaflets alongside food, medicine, US$1 bills, mini radios and USB sticks containing South Korean news and dramas into the North, usually by balloon or in bottles on border rivers. North Korea has long denounced the practice.
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South Korea voted to ban its citizens from flying leaflets into North Korea, a practice used to send information into the nation about the outside world.
The bill, passed on Monday with the support of 187 lawmakers, was mostly a party-line vote, with the Democratic Party in favor of it. The
Associated Press reports that it will go into effect in three months.
Violators of the law can be punished with up to three years in prison.
For years, activists have sent balloons carrying rice, money, leaflets, and USB sticks into North Korea. Supporters of the bill believe doing so has hindered the South s ability to negotiate with its neighbor to the north.