hankyoreh

Fighters for a Free North Korea President Park Sang-hak speaks to reporters in June last year in front of the Keunsaem office in Seoul where his younger brother Park Jung-oh serves as the president after South Korea police raided the organization’s office. (Kim Bong-gyu/The Hankyoreh)

Police conducted a search and seizure effort Thursday on the office of Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK) president Park Sang-hak after his announcement late last month that he had released balloons carrying propaganda leaflets to North Korea.

The security investigation unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced that it had begun a raid that morning on the FFNK office in Seoul.

After Park himself made public that he had conducted two launches to scatter 500,000 leaflets in North Korea, the security investigation unit began an internal investigation and booked him on charges of violating the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act. According to that act, the distribution of leaflets and use of loudspeakers for propaganda broadcasts around the Military Demarcation Line is punishable by up to three years in prison and up to 30 million won (US$26,749) in fines.

The launch reported by Park is the first example of leaflets being scattered in North Korea since the amended Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act went into effect on March 30 with a ban on the distribution of leaflets.

In his announcement, Park said that he had sent 10 large balloons to North Korean between April 25 and 29 from the provinces of Gyeonggi and Gangwon along the Demilitarization Zone (DMZ), with 500,000 leaflets, 500 pamphlets, and 5,000 one-dollar bills on board.

On Sunday, National Police Agency Commissioner Kim Chang-ryong ordered “stern handling of the distribution of leaflets to North Korea through a swift and thorough investigation.”

By Jang Ye-ji, staff reporter

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