hankyoreh

scattering leaflets over a parking lot in Paju

A North Korean refugees’ group carried out a surprise launch of balloons carrying propaganda leaflets in Paju on Jan. 19, despite government calls for restraint.

Park Sang-hak, head of the group Fighters for Free North Korea (FFNK), held a press conference the day after the nighttime launch to announce that the group would “mass-distribute DVD copies of ‘The Interview’ if North Korea does not respond to the South‘s dialogue proposal by Lunar New Year.”

During the press conference, Park explained that his group “launched a balloon carrying 100,000 leaflets for North Korea from the village of Munji in Tanhyeon township, Paju, Gyeonggi Province, at around 11 pm on Jan. 19.”

“We didn’t include the ‘Interview’ DVDs this time,” he added. “The Interview” is a comedy depicting the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Participating in the launch on Jan. 19 were around 20 members of the US group Human Rights Foundation (HRF) who are campaigning to raise funds for the distribution of the DVDs in North Korea.

It was unclear if the balloon launched on Jan. 19 crossed over into North Korea. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, conditions were windless at Paju at 11 pm. Without winds pushing the balloon northward, most of the leaflets would have fallen on the southern side of the DMZ. HRF and FFNK could have gone ahead with the surprise launch regardless of wind direction and alerted the press to promote the fundraising effort for the DVD distribution.

HRF founder Thor Halvorseen said the group is considering using drones for future leaflet distributions, adding that the goal was to send 100,000 DVD copies of “The Interview” into North Korea this year.

A scuffled also occurred in front of the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan district, the site of the press conference, when civic groups opposing the launches held a demonstration against what they called “inciting the threat of war.”

Meanwhile, critics accused the government of not doing enough to stop the launches despite President Park Geun-hye’s assurance on Jan. 12 that the issue would be “dealt with in a way that considers both freedom of expression and the safety of local residents.” In the case of the Jan. 19 launch, no action was taken in advance to prevent the activity, which involved dozens of people. While Park Sang-hak previously said his group would consider refraining from launches if it received official notice from the administration, the Ministry of Unification has stuck to a policy of not sending such notices.

“The government needs to be more proactive if it is committed to resolving the lack of inter-Korean dialogue,” said Sejong Institute senior fellow Cheong Seong-chang.

By Son Won-je, staff reporter

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