‘Letters of truth’ from South to N Korea strain Moon’s diplomacy

“Is South Korea a dictatorship?” asked Park Sang-hak, a North Korean defector and leader of Fighters for a Free North Korea who regularly sends helium balloons laden with leaflets about the North across the border. “Is it a free and democratic country?”

Park sent 10 balloons loaded with 500,000 leaflets and 5,000 one-dollar bills to North Korea at the end of last month. He says he wants North Koreans to know the truth about the Kim Jong Un dictatorship and for North Koreans to rise up against his regime. The leaflets criticise the Kims’s dynastic rule. The dollar bills encourage people to pick up the leaflets.

Park has launched such balloons 60 times over the past 10 years or so. The difference now is that it is against the law – South Korean law.

“The exclusive ban is an anti-constitutional evil law,” Park told Al Jazeera. Park’s balloon launches have often been well-attended media occasions.

But in April he kept the locations of the events secret and sent off the balloons from the border areas in the dead of night, for fear of being apprehended by South Korean authorities tasked by the government with curtailing his efforts.

On May 6, police raided his office, promising a thorough investigation.

When he appeared at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency for questioning four days later, he lambasted the liberal government and explained what the propaganda leaflets were about.

“Those are the defectors’ letters to our families in North Korea. Letters of truth, freedom and love. And now we are not even allowed to write letters?” Park said.