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Park Sang-hak, chairman of Fighters for a Free North Korea, puts up a banner criticizing Kim Jong-un over a shipping container in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, after his attempt to fly anti-Pyongyang leaflets to North Korea was stopped in May 2018. (Kim Seong-gwang/The Hankyoreh)

The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a nonpartisan organization in the US Congress, is holding a video conference hearing Thursday over a South Korean law banning the distribution of propaganda leaflets in North Korea.

It’s quite unusual for the US Congress to hold a hearing concerning a South Korean government policy or piece of legislation concerning inter-Korean relations. Instead of responding defensively to the hearing, we hope Seoul will work actively to explain the intent behind its anti-leaflet law and clearly share the kinds of efforts it will be making to improve human rights in the North substantially.

Explaining the background behind its decision to hold the hearing, the commission said on Thursday that some had voiced concerns about the law potentially hampering efforts to improve North Korean human rights.

The anti-leaflet law, which went into effect on March 30, allows for penalties of up to three years in prison and 30 million won (US$26,833) in fines for loudspeaker broadcasting and the scattering of leaflets and other materials in the area around the Military Demarcation Line (MDL).

The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission is an official organization of the US House of Representatives, and any lawmakers with interest in human rights are free to participate. It is not an official House of Representatives standing committee, so it has no authority to enact legislation.

Conservative media in South Korea and the US have reported that the hearing is being held because US politicians, in general, perceive the anti-leaflet law as a very serious issue. In truth, the event is more akin to a public forum.

The organizers have shared a list of some of the people scheduled to appear as witnesses, including former South Korean Ambassador to Russia Lee In-ho, North Korea Freedom Coalition chair Suzanne Scholte, and Human Rights Watch Asia advocacy director John Sifton.

A look at the lineup gives the impression that it’s skewed in one particular direction. The South Korean government needs to communicate actively with the US Congress so that a more balanced distribution of witnesses appears, including residents of the border region, defectors, and others who have worked to improve North Korean human rights.

If anything, this hearing could be an opportunity to explain to US politicians and human rights groups how much damage border residents are experiencing in their daily life due to these leaflets’ distribution, and how they have to live with fears that an armed clash might erupt.

Experts have stressed that the propaganda leaflets being sent to North Korea do nothing practical to improve North Korean human rights while having severe side effects.

Outside information has been steadily making its way into North Korea through the border with China and other pathways. That influx has actually become more difficult with the leaflet issue, which has prompted North Korean authorities to step up their policing efforts.

Day-to-day life has also reportedly become more dangerous for North Koreans whose family members have defected. Critics have further claimed that the leaflet scattering efforts have devolved into a tactic by certain defector groups to draw support funds from institutions in the US and elsewhere.

The government and civil society in South Korea also need to step up their efforts to bring about human rights improvements in North Korea. They should be showing more interest in the defectors who have settled here while becoming active participants in the international debate on North Korean human rights.

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