[Analysis] Leaflets bringing on a cold front in inter-Korean relations

Posted on : 2014-11-04 15:38 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Launches of pamphlets have scuttled momentum to improve relations, with high-level talks being called off
 scattering leaflets over a parking lot in Paju
scattering leaflets over a parking lot in Paju

The disagreement about the balloons filled with propaganda pamphlets that started early this year has hobbled inter-Korean relations, even bringing about the cancelation of the second round of high-level inter-Korean talks. The launch of the balloons, a topic about which North Korea is bound to be sensitive, is the result of the South Korean government’s decision to stay on the sidelines. This is expected to have severe ramifications for inter-Korean relations.

■ Rupture in inter-Korean atmosphere

The most serious consequence of the pamphlet dispute was ruining the mood for inter-Korean dialogue that had appeared after a visit to South Korea by Hwang Pyong-so, director of the (North) Korean People’s Army General Political Bureau, and two other core members of North Korea’s leadership, on Oct. 4.

Progress had been slow on the second round of high-level inter-Korean talks proposed by South Korea in mid-August until the three officials visited the South. After that, progress accelerated, with the two sides tentatively agreeing to hold the talks in late October or early November.

However, the plans for dialogue were effectively scrapped, unable to endure the recent disagreement over the pamphlets. “North Korea postponed talks that were scheduled to take place at the Kaesong Industrial Complex until after the second round of high-level talks. But with the cancellation of the high-level talks, it is likely that other talks will be affected as well,” said an official at the Unification Ministry.

■ Uneasiness by residents in frontline areas

People living close to the DMZ, including the residents of the cities of Paju and Gimpo and Yeoncheon County in Gyeonggi Province, are paralyzed with fear. These fears have been becoming a reality since North Korea fired anti-aircraft guns at the propaganda balloons launched by a refugee organization in Yeoncheon on Oct. 10.

In mid-September, North Korea stated publicly in several statements issued under the name of the North Korean delegation to the high-level talks that it would take retaliatory strikes against the people scattering the leaflets and that it would annihilate the source of the provocations.

“If the bullets start falling here, everyone is going to die. I risked my life fighting for my country and thought that we were getting close to peace, and now they seem to be trying to go to war again,” said Park, 81, a Korean War veteran who lives in Paju.

“I left my home in North Korea and came to the South during the Korean War. I’m terribly nervous and afraid about when and where the bombs will start dropping. I wish the government would help us residents,” said Yoo Jeong-suk, 65, who lives in Wolgot Township, Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province.

■ Increasing tensions between conservatives and progressives in SK

The pamphlet problem is also provoking scuffles between progressive and conservative organizations inside South Korea. On Oct. 25, a violent altercation broke out at Imjingak, Paju, Gyeonggi Province. All day long, there was a standoff between the conservative groups who were trying to go ahead with a balloon launch and the progressive groups who were trying to stop them.

Some conservative groups also provoked tensions inside South Korea by launching leaflets claiming that former president Kim Dae-jung was a traitorous criminal and that former president Roh Moo-hyun was a fraud.

In a poll carried out by Real Meter on Oct. 15, 62.9% of all respondents said that the balloons launches into North Korea must be stopped, more than twice the number of respondents who said the launches should not be stopped (24.6%).

The reason that the government has not been actively preventing the launch of balloons despite this since to be because it is paying too much attention to the conservatives, its key constituency. Government decisions that contradict public opinion are intensifying conflict inside South Korea.

■ South and North governments’ stiff attitudes to each other

The South Korean government’s stance toward the propaganda leaflets has become significantly more rigid. The government has been criticized for regressing even further than the Lee Myung-bak administration (in office from 2008 to 2013), which kept balloons from being launched by invoking the Act on the Performance of Duties by Police Officers and blocking the entrance to Imjingak.

At the end of October, news broke that the Christmas tree on Aegibong hill, which was served as a symbol of psychological warfare against North Korea along with the leaflets, had been removed without deliberation between government departments. This development makes the government’s policy toward North Korea appear even more inflexible.

With the conservative media continuing to deride the government for letting North Korea lead it around by the nose, the government took the unusual step of sending North Korea a fax on the evening of Oct. 27, an ultimatum demanding an answer about the second round of high-level talks.

“I think that the Park administration closed the door on inter-Korean dialogue too strongly and too quickly out of concern for popular opinion,” said a senior official in the current administration.

North Korea’s blustering is growing stronger as well. On Nov. 1, North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland threatened to “sternly judge and eliminate the criminals who took part in the rash launch of propaganda balloons in the name of the entire Korean people.”

It is possible to view this as no more than ritualistic rhetoric, but it is also concerning, since North Korea has sometimes committed low-intensity provocations to attempt to tip the balance of the situation when inter-Korean dialogue has broken down in the past.

By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

 

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