North Korea has warned its citizens against reading propaganda leaflets sent via balloon over the border with the South, saying they could be carrying coronavirus.
The state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper urged people to stay away from the leaflets, according to news agency Yonhap, saying: “Even when we come across a strange object flying in the wind, we must consider them as a possible route of transmission of the malicious virus rather than a natural phenomenon.” It advised people to “think and move” according to Covid-19 guidelines.
The warning came the day South Korean police raided the office of an activist who said he had used balloons to float hundreds of thousands of propaganda leaflets toward North Korea in defiance of a contentious new law.
Activist Park Sang-hak, a well-known North Korean defector, is the first person to be investigated since the legislation took effect in March.
The issue of propaganda leaflets has emerged as a new source of animosity between the two Koreas, with the North calling it a provocation and threatening to retaliate.
The Seoul Metropolitan police said the raid on the Seoul office of activist Park Sang-hak was related to his announcement that his group launched balloons carrying 500,000 leaflets, 5,000 US $1 bills and 500 booklets about South Korea’s economic development across the border last week.
They refused to provide further details, citing the ongoing investigation.
Park, who rose to fame because of his campaign to send leaflets across the border, issued a brief statement saying police had arrived at his office. He later told reporters he would keep launching balloons despite the new law, which punishes flying leaflets, USB drives or money into North Korea with up to three years in prison.
“Even if we get three years in prison or even 30 years in prison … we’ll continue to send anti-North leaflets to let our ragged, starving compatriots in North Korea know the truth” about their authoritarian government, Park said.
South Korean officials haven’t publicly confirmed that Park had in fact sent the leaflets. But in a statement on Sunday, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said defectors in South Korea recently “scattered leaflets against” the North. She called their action “an intolerable provocation” and said her government would look into corresponding measures.
Her statement caused concern that North Korea might launch some sort of provocation against South Korea. Last year, North Korea blew up an empty inter-Korean liaison office on its territory after Kim Yo-jong reacted furiously to similar propaganda leaflets sent over the border.
North Korea is extremely sensitive about any outside attempt to undermine Kim Jong-un’s leadership and weaken his absolute control over the country’s 26 million people, most of whom have little access to foreign news.
South Korean officials have said they would handle Park in line with the law, but any harsh treatment could deepen criticism that South Korea is sacrificing freedom of speech to improve ties with the North. Officials say the law is designed to avoid unnecessarily provoking North Korea and promote the safety of South Korean residents in border areas.
With Associated Press