A group of North Korean defectors and human rights activists warned Tuesday that it would send to the North copies of "The Interview,” a comedy about a plot to assassinate its leader Kim Jong-un, should Pyongyang reject Seoul’s request for dialogue.

The previous day, the group launched toward the North five balloons carrying some 100,000 leaflets from Tanhyeon in the border city of Paju, Gyeonggi Province. The leaflets were designed to make North Koreans aware of the brutality of the dictatorial regime.

The move came after the Seoul government requested last Thursday that the group refrain from sending the balloons in consideration of the safety of the residents in border areas.

“There appears to be little sincerity (in its intentions to improve cross-border ties) given that the North demanded the cancelation of the annual South Korea-U.S. military drills following Seoul’s offer of dialogue,” Park Sang-hak, the head of the activist group Fighters for a Free North Korea, said during a press conference in central Seoul.

Saying that his group would stop floating the leaflets until before the Lunar New Year holiday next month, Park stressed, “It is now time for Pyongyang to answer Seoul’s calls for inter-Korean dialogue.”

Also joining the press conference was Thor Halvorssen, president of the U.S.-based Human Rights Foundation. Some HRF members participated in Park’s campaign to send the leaflets to the North on Monday night.

Halvorssen said his group hoped to send 100,000 copies of “The Interview” to the North. He also said his group, along with other activists, had been exploring various ways to more effectively deliver the leaflets to North Koreans such as using unmanned aerial vehicles.

Seoul reiterated its stance against forcibly regulating the cross-border distribution of the leaflets, saying it would take due steps only when the leaflets posed a “clear threat” to the security of the residents in the border region.

“Our stance on the distribution of the leaflets remains unchanged. It is about the basic right to the freedom of expression and we cannot forcibly regulate it. It is for the civilians (to decide whether to stop the distribution),” said a senior Seoul official, declining to be named.

“We will take necessary steps only when there is a clear threat to the security of the residents in the border areas. We will continue to call on the groups (sending the leaflets) to make careful decisions,” he added without elaborating on the steps.

Park of the activist group FFNK told the media that unless the Seoul government makes a formal written request, rather than a verbal one, his group would continue to send the leaflets to the North. Seoul officials said that the government was not considering issuing a written request.

The HRF also vowed to continue launching the balloons.

“Kim Jong-un’s regime, displaying the hallmarks of narcissism and psychopathy, threatens activists with death and tries to bully the international community by saying that it will halt dialogue unless these balloons are stopped,” said Thor Halvorssen in a statement.

“We are an independent civil society organization made up of individuals devoted to nonviolence, education and the defense of human rights, especially freedom of speech and assembly. These rights are nonnegotiable,” said Halvorssen.

Inter-Korean tension over the leaflets has escalated at a time when the two Koreas’ attempts at dialogue have been shelved due to Pyongyang’s insistence on pursuing nuclear development and provocative rhetoric and behavior.

Pyongyang has persistently demanded that Seoul block the spread of the leaflets, and warned that the mood for inter-Korean dialogue will be broken should the activists continue to send the leaflets, which it says insult its highest authority.

Last week, a news report said that the North had completed drills to “devastate” the South Korean border areas from which leaflets were sent. In response to the report, Seoul’s Defense Ministry vowed to “sternly retaliate” against any North Korean provocations.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)