N.K. leaflets timed for Kim`s birthday

A group of anti-North Korea activists in South Korea yesterday announced that they will send propaganda leaflets and North Korean banknotes to the North`s soil, coinciding with the birthday of communist leader Kim Jong-il later this month.

The activists, including defectors and family members of South Korean abductees, said they will go ahead with the leaflet spreading as planned, despite the Seoul government`s warning of restrictions.

"We will disseminate North Korean 5,000-won notes together with anti-Pyongyang leaflets around Feb. 16, the birthday of Chairman Kim Jong-il," said Choi Sung-yong, leader of a union representing family members of South Koreans kidnapped by North Korea.

Choi held a press conference at a Unification Ministry office, displaying one hundred North Korean banknotes his group plans to use.

The group, aligned with other anti-North Korea groups, plans to send balloons laden with leaflets denouncing the communist regime and calling for North Koreans to defect. They will attach North Korea`s 5,000-won notes to the leaflets to encourage North Koreans to pick them up.

But Choi didn`t disclose the origins of the North Korean money.

The group had sent dollars, but recently decided to use North Korean won instead of dollars after hearing that people found with dollar bills had been punished by the communist government.

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The South Korean Unification Ministry, which is agonizing over worsening ties with the North, reiterated yesterday that it was illegal for the group to bring in North Korean currency without the permission of the Unification Ministry.

"If someone brings in North Korean currency to our country, he or she should report it to the government. But the Unification Ministry never endorsed the entry of the money," Kim Ho-nyoun, the ministry`s spokesman, said, adding the activists had violated a law that regulates exchanges between the two Koreas.

Under the law, offenders could face a jail term of up to three years or a fine.

The spokesman said his ministry will announce a measure today against the import of North Korean currency after consultations with related agencies such as the National Intelligence Service, the Justice Ministry and police. The ministry is considering asking police to investigate into how the money was brought in.

The Unification Ministry has asked the activists to restrain from sending the leaflets, with concerns that the actions may further aggravate the inter-Korean ties. But the activists have dismissed the calls.

"It would not be legally problematic because we send them not for inter-Korean exchanges, but for our family members in the North who are waiting for our message," Choi said.

"Even though it is illegal, we won`t stop," he added.

The activist said his group demands Pyongyang return to dialogue for discussing the kidnapping issue.

"If (the North) comes out for dialogue to resolve the issues of war prisoners and abductees, we`ll stop sending the leaflets to the North," Choi said.

The North has vehemently protested the leaflet dissemination. It severed all government-to-government dialogue channels with the South.

The issues of abductees and POWs have remained a thorn in inter-Korean ties. Pyongyang has refused to put the matter on the negotiation table, despite Seoul`s repeated demands for a resolution.

According to the South`s estimate, 560 South Korean war prisoners and 500 South Korean abductees are still being held by the North.

By Jin Dae-woong



(davidpooh@heraldm.com)