A small group of South Korean activists on Saturday sent balloons carrying propaganda leaflets into North Korea, an activity labeled by the North as an attempt to topple its communist regime.

Also carried by the large balloons flown from the northern border city of Paju were 1,500 pairs of winter socks, which the group said could be exchanged for food in the impoverished North.

"Aid from international organizations rarely reaches the people in North Korea," said Lee Joo-seong, an official from the International Coalition for Peace on the Korean Peninsula. "Socks are very useful in helping North Koreans obtain food."

The balloons also carried 1,500 leaflets expressing sympathy for the "suffering of our North Korean brothers" and urging them to stay alive until the reunification of the two Koreas.

Propaganda leaflets from activist groups are often subject to heated reactions from the North Korean government, which maintains an iron-fist control over its people. The activists, however, said their leaflets lacked any remarks "critical" of Pyongyang's authoritarian regime.

They said the socks can be exchanged for rice in the North, which suffers from chronic food shortages partly due to a mismanaged economy and natural disasters.

North Korea has relied on international handouts to feed its people since it suffered a massive famine in the late 1990s. It has been suspected of diverting international aid to the ruling elite and military groups, prompting calls for a stricter monitoring of the aid's distribution. (Yonhap News)