Choi Sung-ryong, head of the Association of the Families of Those Abducted by North Korea, speaks at a press conference held at Imjingak, in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, near the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas, Tuesday. Yonhap
Choi Sung-ryong, head of the Association of the Families of Those Abducted by North Korea, speaks at a press conference held at Imjingak, in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, near the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas, Tuesday. Yonhap

A South Korean civic group representing families of abductees held in North Korea officially announced Tuesday that it would halt its distribution of anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.

“We were moved after receiving direct phone calls from Unification Minister candidate Chung Dong-yong, Vice Unification Minister Kim Nam-jung and Rep. Yoon Hu-duk (of the Democratic Party of Korea),” said Choi Sung-ryong, head of the Association of the Families of Those Abducted by North Korea.

“We promise to the people that we will halt our distribution of leaflets containing information about our abducted family members.”

The remarks were made at a press conference held at Imjingak, in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, near the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas.

The Lee Jae Myung administration has ramped up measures to stop the launches of anti-Pyongyang leaflets that detail information about South Koreans abducted by the North after the 1950-53 Korean War, calling the act “illegal.”

The leaflets included messages criticizing the North Korean regime, such as: “If only Kim Jong-un disappears, our abductees will return.”

Choi expressed hopes that the group’s decision would cater to the president’s efforts to “hold a summit and revive dialogue” with Pyongyang, so that the families divided by war could be reunited soon.

“We hope that the families divided by war, (families) of war prisoners and those abducted by the North could meet (at the border city) of Kaesong, even if (the meeting) is held behind closed doors,” Choi said. “We hope the Lee Jae Myung administration could resolve our suffering by allowing us to smoothly communicate with our family members (abducted by the North).”

The civic group, which began launching the leaflets across the border in 2008, had halted the campaign for over a decade starting in 2013, heeding to the request of the then-Park Geun-hye administration. However, the group relaunched the campaign in October last year and has since dispersed leaflets multiple times, despite calls from the Unification Ministry for them to stop.

The group attempted to officially launch leaflets through open events in October last year and April this year, but was stopped by police and residents of the border area. Instead, the group unofficially sent the leaflets without government authorization in April, May and June this year.

Despite the government’s long-standing efforts to halt the leaflet campaign, South Korean courts have sided with the civic groups that organized such activities, deeming them legal.

In September 2023, the Constitutional Court ruled the anti-leaflet law unconstitutional, nullifying a provision in the Inter-Korean Relations Development Act that banned such activities. In March this year, the Seoul High Court also rejected an injunction seeking to halt leaflet campaigns by North Korean activist groups, including one representing families of abductees.


mkjung@heraldcorp.com