South Korea bans floating anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets to prevent provocation

In what is being called a 'curb on freedom of expression', the South Korean parliament on December 14 approved legislation criminalising the flying of propaganda leaflets by balloons towards North Korea. Despite the long-standing hostilities between the two Korean states, this marks the first time that the South has formally passed a bill banning civilians from floating anti-North Korea leaflets across the border. Experts have stressed that this kind of legislation has only been passed during the war and other sensitive times.

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Three years in prison 

Under the legislation, any individual caught flying leaflets, any other auxiliary object or money towards the North without government's permission would be subjected to a minimum of three years in prison or slapped with a fine of 30 million won, as per reports.

In addendum, any individual found placing large billboards in the border areas or broadcasting messages through loudspeakers would also be charged under the same legislation. Defending the new policy, county’s president Moon Jae-in later asserted that it would prevent any kind of provocation and improve the already severed ties between the twin nations. 

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However, the opposition has accused the leader of softening towards North Korea. "This is a law that will block the flow of South Korea’s great values, the spirit of democracy, freedom and equality, to North Korea. It’s a law aimed at joining hands with Kim Jong Un and leaving North Korean residents enslaved for good," conservative opposition lawmaker Tae Yongho said during a 10-hour speech. 

The new legislature was passed with the support of 187 lawmakers and would come into force in three months. It comes six months after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un's sister lambasted what she called South Korea’s inability to halt civilian leafleting and demanded it bans the activity. She called North Korean defectors involved in the leafleting campaign "human scum" and "mongrel dogs". South Korea responded by promising an anti-leaflet law. 

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With AP Inputs & Image)