Aactivists put together to ship balloons carrying anti-regime messages to North Korea in Paju, a metropolis close to the inter-Korean border, April 27. Courtesy of North Korean Defectors Household Affiliation
The navy despatched propaganda leaflets to North Korea not less than 23 instances final yr beneath the previous President Yoon Suk Yeol administration, following an order issued the earlier yr to renew leaflet operations, a lawmaker stated Wednesday.
The workplace of ruling celebration Rep. Choo Mi-ae disclosed the knowledge, citing the results of a protection ministry probe, as Yoon faces expenses of sending drones to North Korea final yr to impress a retaliation and use it as a pretext for his declaration of martial legislation final December.
The Nationwide Safety Council permitted a call to renew leaflet operations in October 2023 earlier than carrying them out between February and November final yr forward of Yoon’s failed martial legislation bid on Dec. 3, in accordance with the probe outcomes submitted to Choo’s workplace.
The choice by the safety council to renew such operations got here shortly after the Constitutional Courtroom dominated a legislation banning such campaigns unconstitutional in September 2023, citing freedom of expression. Leaflet operations had been suspended since July 2017.
Then Protection Minister Shin Received-sik, then Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho and different safety officers participated within the safety council assembly to resolve on the resumption, the lawmaker’s workplace stated. Key particulars, together with the grounds on which the resumption was permitted, nonetheless, stay unknown because the assembly’s outcomes have been categorised.
Following the choice, which Shin conveyed to the navy in late 2023, the navy’s propaganda warfare unit distributed leaflets throughout 35 goal areas, together with main North Korean cities, equivalent to Pyongyang and Wonsan, in addition to navy bases, between Feb. 18 and Nov. 15.
North Korea has lengthy bristled towards the navy’s loudspeaker broadcasts and leaflets despatched by activists over fears of out of doors data that might pose a menace to its ruling regime.
In Could final yr, the North resumed its personal leaflet operations, sending hundreds of trash-filled balloons throughout the border into South Korea, claiming that Seoul first initiated leaflet campaigns towards its regime.
The most recent revelation comes after a particular counsel group concluded earlier this week that Yoon started preparations for his short-lived imposition of martial legislation in or earlier than October 2023, greater than a yr earlier than the declaration on Dec. 3, 2024.
Following the conclusion, the protection ministry launched a particular investigative unit to additional look into allegations involving the navy within the martial legislation bid.
