South Korean authorities seized 16 books and four CDs that were published in North Korea and smuggled here illegally, data from the Korea Customs Service showed Wednesday.
The items were seized on June 18, along with two stamp albums and other miscellaneous items, including North Korean money and medals, according to a report compiled by Park Seong-hoon of the main opposition People Power Party. This marked the first time illegally smuggled North Korean items have been confiscated by local authorities since 2020, with such seizures occurring once that year, 25 times in 2019, 27 times in 2018, and four times in 2017.
South Korea requires all exchanges and interactions across the inter-Korean border to follow the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act, enacted in 1990.
The Ministry of Unification, which oversees most non-military interactions with the North, must authorize the inflow of any commodity made in North Korea.
South and North Korea remain technically at war as hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War ended not with a peace agreement but with an armistice, and both states claim to be the sole legitimate government on the Korean Peninsula.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
