Defectors to send more packages to North Korea amid rising tensions with South

Amid heightened tensions in the Korean peninsula over anti-Pyongyang leaflets, another group of defectors is reportedly preparing to float hundreds of plastic bottles filled with rice. Despite legal action from South Korean authorities, the activist group is planning to send rice, medicine, and face masks to North Korea via sea, as a “humanitarian” gesture.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said in a statement the groups violated the agreement between the leaders of the North and the South and created tension. South Korea decided to press charges against the activist groups after the North threatened to suspend all communication lines. South Korea’s Unification Ministry said in a statement the groups violated the agreement between the leaders of the North and the South and created tension. 

According to media reports, defectors have accused Unification Ministry of targeting them all of a sudden when they knew about the activities for a long time. As the activists claim to continue providing “humanitarian aid”, they said South Korean authorities are yet to contact them after announcing to pursue legal action.

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Liaison office destroyed

On June 16, North Korea has confirmed that it destroyed the inter-Korean liaison office and cut all communication lines with South Korea amid rising tension in the Korean peninsula. North’s state-run media KCNA reported that the joint liaison office was “completely ruined” in the wake of cutting communication lines with South Korea.

Kim Jong Un's powerful sister Kim Yo Jong rejected South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s proposal to send special envoys for talks, calling it “tactless and sinister”. Seoul denounced Pyongyang’s outright rejection of Moon’s proposal amid heightened tensions.

Calling North’s remark “senseless” and “very rude”, spokesperson for South Korea’s Blue House said that Seoul will no longer tolerate the North's unreasonable acts and words. Its Defence Ministry said in a statement that North's threats would violate several inter-Korean agreements and will surely pay the price if such actions are taken.

Read: South Korea Urges Kim Yo Jong To Uphold Deals Amid Rising Animosities