ROK's group floats anti-DPRK leaflets

SEOUL - A Republic of Korea's civic group floated leaflets against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) across the border Monday night, pouring cold water over expectations for thawing ties between the two Koreas.

Fighters for Free North Korea (FFNK), the civic group composed largely of "defectors" from the DPRK, said on its website on Tuesday that it floated about 100,000 anti-DPRK leaflets via five balloons across the demilitarized zone at around 11 pm Monday in Paju, some 40 km northwest of capital Seoul.

The New York-based Human Rights Foundation (HRF) accompanied the civic group to disperse leaflets criticizing the DPRK regime and its top leader Kim Jong Un.

Copies of "The Interview," a film featuring a fictional plot to assassinate the DPRK leader, were not included in the hot air balloons, which the civic organization scattered Monday night. It has threatened to disperse the film within January.

Park Sang Hak, chief of the FFNK who defected from the DPRK in 1999, said that he will determine future activity depending on the DPRK's response to South Korea's offer to hold talks in January, indicating additional scattering of such leaflets.

Park held a press conference with local media and unveiled video clips of the Monday dispersion.

His activity came despite calls for restraint from the government, border residents and other liberal civic groups.

The Unification Ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs said on Friday that it sent officials to meet Park, asking him to refrain from the leaflet scattering, but Park said he would suspend the activity if the ministry sends him official documents.

A ministry official was quoted by local media as saying on Tuesday that the ministry is not considering sending the official document, noting that a senior official already met with Park to explain the government's position.

The official said the government recognized the scattering only after the surprise move happened, reiterating that if such activity jeopardizes the lives and safety of people in border areas, it will take necessary actions.