Anti-N.K. campaign put on hold

Anti-communist activists decided yesterday to suspend their campaign of sending propaganda leaflets into the North, which has been at the center of tensions between the two Koreas.

The announcement came after their meeting with Grand National Party leader Park Hee-tae.

"Chairman Park Hee-tae asked us to restrain from the activity, citing the North`s recent hard-line measures which Pyongyang says are in retaliation for the spread of the leaflets," said Park Sang-hak, head of the Fighters for Free North Korea, a Seoul-based North Korean defectors` group.

"We decided to stop the leaflet dissemination for a while and will watch to see whether the North changes its attitude," Park said.

Park stressed the urgency of mending ties with North Korea, while acknowledging that spreading the leaflets was lawful.

A group of North Korean defectors here and family members of South Koreans kidnapped by the North have flown balloons into North Korea laden with leaflets denouncing the communist regime and calling for North Koreans to defect.

The North has vehemently protested the leaflet dissemination. It stepped up threats of "grave consequences" against the Gaeseong industrial park and other inter-Korean projects if the civic groups refuse to halt the spread of the leaflets.

Beginning Monday, the North canceled Gaeseong city tours and expelled half of the South Korean staff and workers from the Gaeseong industrial park.

Pyongyang also cut off rail links between the South`s Munsan and the North`s Bongdong.

The Seoul government has repeatedly requested restraint, but the groups have snubbed the plea.

Meanwhile, Seoul`s Unification Ministry said yesterday inter-Korean economic and humanitarian projects continue in Pyongyang despite the North`s recent measures to restrict border crossing.

"There have been no reports from the firms in Pyongyang that projects will be delayed or postponed," ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun told reporters. "They make on-the-spot visits and progress projects as scheduled."

The spokesman said international aid institutions are also continuing their activities in Pyongyang, including hospital building.

Pyongyang has placed strict restrictions on border passage on land, but has taken no measures on flight visits to Pyongyang, Kim added.

By Jin Dae-woong



(davidpooh@heraldm.com)