This photo taken at the Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju, Gyeonggi Province on Jan. 3 shows North Korean territory in North Hwanghae Province. (Yonhap)
This photo taken at the Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju, Gyeonggi Province on Jan. 3 shows North Korean territory in North Hwanghae Province. (Yonhap)

A group representing the families of those abducted by North Korea said Monday it will try to send a newsletter about the abductees to the pro-North Korean group located in Japan.

Choi Seong-ryong, who heads the group, told Yonhap News that it will distribute the newsletters on Jan. 29 to the Tokyo-based General Association of Korean Residents in Japan -- or Chongryon -- which consists of Japan-based Koreans who consider themselves citizens of North Korea.

The newsletter, Choi said, will consist of information and family news related to Megumi Yokota, a Japanese woman kidnapped by North Korea in 1977 at the age of 13, and five South Korean men who were also abducted and are thought to have been indoctrinated by the North alongside her. North Korea has since announced that Yokota is deceased, but many believe that she survives based on tests of DNA evidence sent by Pyongyang, which proved not to be hers, and unconfirmed testimony from North Korean defectors.

The group attempted to deliver a newsletter about the abductees in 2005, but it was refused by Chongryon. Choi said that his group will use drones to deliver the newsletter into the Chongryon headquarters and project names and pictures on the building's wall if the pro-Pyongyang group once again refuses to accept it.

The group of abductee families will conduct rituals the same day wishing for a safe return of those forcibly taken into North Korea. It initially planned to conduct the ceremony and news delivery Dec. 12-13, but postponed it due to political turmoil in South Korea following President Yoon Suk Yeol's Dec. 3 martial law declaration.

The group also plans to distribute the information to North Korean consulates in other countries, including Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, later this year.

The Seoul-based group said in November it plans to send newsletters about the abducted families across the inter-Korean border, separate from the anti-Pyongyang leaflets flown by other civic groups in South Korea. The group stressed that its actions are not political or ideological, and that it is sending newsletters, not propaganda against the dictatorial regime.

The South Korean Unification Ministry has called for a “prudent” approach to the leaflet campaigns, after North Korea sent hundreds of trash-filled balloons southward in retaliation for the earlier anti-Pyongyang leaflets.

The group’s plan was thwarted by opposition from residents and regional governments in South Korea's Gyeonggi Province, which borders North Korea, but the group said it will not abandon the plans.