No more anti-Pyongyang leaflets, abductee family group announces

A civic group representing the families of those abducted by North Korea announced Tuesday it will no longer send anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the inter-Korean border, after the South Korean government requested that it discontinue the campaign.

Choi Seong-ryong, who heads the group, said the members will "trust the government and stop sending the leaflets," at a press conference held at Imjingak in Paju, about 30 kilometers northwest of Seoul. He expressed hope that President Lee Jae Myung will approach the issue of North Korean abductions through active conversation with the families.

The abductee families' group had a phone conversation with Vice Unification Minister Kim Nam-jung on June 23, during which Kim expressed the government's sympathy with their troubles and requested that they suspend the leaflet campaign. According to the Unification Ministry, Kim also pledged that the government will listen to the abductee families' opinions on the matter.

A day after the conversation, Choi's group expressed its intent to no longer send the leaflets.

It also called on other civic groups to do the same.

Since the Moon Jae-in administration agreed to turn off loudspeakers broadcasting anti-regime propaganda at the border in 2018, leaflet campaigns have been a main method used by civic groups to disseminate propaganda against Pyongyang and expose North Koreans to the realities of the outside world. The loudspeaker broadcasts resumed in 2024 at the height of inter-Korean tensions, but were discontinued last month shortly after President Lee took office.

The leaflet campaigns, however, have been a hotly debated topic in South Korea. While South Koreans denounce the North's continued disregard for human rights and its nuclear programs, many members of the public believe that the leaflets do more harm than good by raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

In 2020, North Korea cut off communications with the South after criticizing the leaflets. In a survey conducted by local broadcaster KBS in June of that year, 60.6 percent of respondents said the civic groups should stop flying the leaflets.

Another survey by pollster Real Meter in the same month showed that 50 percent of respondents thought sending the anti-Pyongyang leaflets should be made illegal, while 41.1 percent opposed the idea of banning it by law.