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Civic group announces end to controversial anti-North Korea leaflet campaign

Published: 06 Jul. 2025, 16:45 Updated: 06 Jul. 2025, 16:51

Choi Seong-ryong, head of the Families of Abductees, holds a press conference in front of the Government Complex Seoul in central Seoul on June 16. [YONHAP]

The Families of Abductees to North Korea, a civic group led by Choi Seong-ryong, will officially announce an end to its leaflet campaigns targeting North Korea on Tuesday, in a joint press conference with city officials in Imjingak, Paju, Gyeonggi — the same location where the group first began its efforts.

The event will take place at 11 a.m. at the outdoor terrace of the Korean Peninsula Ecological Peace Tourism Information Center, with Paju Mayor Kim Kyung-il and Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Hu-duk scheduled to attend.

The civic group said Sunday that the decision comes after consultations with families of abductees and follows years of legal battles, public backlash and shifting political dynamics.

Choi said he will read a statement announcing the group’s decision to halt all leaflet activities, which he described as a result of discussions with victims’ families.

“Imjingak was where we held our first leaflet-sending event, and also where the most conflict occurred,” Choi said. “If we are going to bring this to a close, it has to happen here.

"Although the Supreme Court recently ruled in his group’s favor in a legal dispute over a ban on leaflet activities, we would suspend them out of trust in the current administration. We will no longer send newsletters across the border."

The group held public leaflet-sending events at Imjingak in October 2024 and again in April this year, but both were disrupted following objections from local residents, civic groups and Gyeonggi provincial investigators.

The group later held private launches in border areas in Paju on April 27, Cheorwon, Gangwon, on May 8 and Paju again on June 2.

Those events sparked a series of complaints, injunctions and police investigations by civic organizations opposed to their actions.

Choi Seong-ryong, head of the Families of Abductees, third from right, holds a press conference in front of the Government Complex Seoul in central Seoul on June 16. [NEWS1]

The city of Paju passed an ordinance aimed at banning leaflet activities for the first time at the local level in response to repeated tensions.

The Paju City Council approved the ordinance, submitted by Mayor Kim, on June 30 during its 257th regular session, marking the first time a basic municipal council had passed legislation explicitly banning the sending of anti-North Korean leaflets.

The group organized the upcoming press conference in cooperation with Paju, with Mayor Kim and Lawmaker Yoon planning to use the occasion to call on other civic organizations to follow suit and cease similar campaigns. They will also urge cooperation in fostering dialogue between the two Koreas.

Tensions around the issue resurfaced late last month when police arrested six American nationals attempting to launch PET bottles filled with rice, $1 bills and Bibles into North Korea from Ganghwa County, Incheon.

Authorities caught them at 1:06 a.m. on June 27 near Mangwoldondae in Hajeom-myeon and are investigating them without detention for allegedly violating the Framework Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety.

The suspects, in their 20s to 50s, told police they intended to send the bottles for missionary purposes.

Ganghwa County has remained under an administrative order banning leaflet activities since it was designated a restricted zone in November 2024.

Chung Dong-young, the nominee for unification minister, expressed support for the decision on June 24.

“I spoke with Choi Seong-ryong earlier in the day,” Chung said. “He told me the group is reconsidering the leaflet campaigns, and I think that was a very commendable decision. Halting the launches is a necessary step to ensure peace and stability in inter-Korean relations.”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY JEON ICK-JIN, CHOI MO-RAN AND LEE YOUNG-KEUN [[email protected]]