South Korea govt: Distribution of anti-North Korea leaflet has to stop

South Korea said Thursday it planned to push new laws to ban activists from flying anti-Pyongyang leaflets over border after rth Korea threatened to end an inter-Korean military agreement reached in 2018 to reduce tensions if Seoul fails to prevent protests.

shift followed remarks earlier in morning from powerful sister of rth’s authoritarian leer Kim Jong Un.

Kim Yo Jong  threatened to end military agreement and said rth could permanently shut a liaison office and an inter-Korean factory park that have been major symbols of reconciliation.

Sending balloons across border has been a common activist tactic for years, but rth Korea considers it an attack on its government.

Defectors and or activists in recent weeks have used balloons to fly leaflets criticizing Kim Jong Un over his nuclear ambitions and dismal human rights record.

While Seoul has sometimes sent police officers to block such activities during times of high tension, it h resisted rth’s calls to fully ban m, saying activists were exercising ir freedoms.

Yoh Sang-key, spokesman of South Korea’s Unification Ministry, said balloon campaigns were threatening safety of residents living in border area and that his government will push for legal changes to “fundamentally solve problems that heighten tensions in border areas.”