Activists to fly anti-Pyongyang leaflets to protest N. Korean rocket

SEOUL, April 6 (Yonhap) -- A group of North Korean defectors and South Korean activists will send anti-Pyongyang leaflets flying towards North Korea on Monday to protest the North's rocket launch, an organizer said.

The small group of defectors and activists has flown propaganda leaflets on
special occasions in North Korea, such as leader Kim Jong-il's birthday or days
of major political events. The leaflets, lifted by balloons from the Imjingak
border park, criticize Kim as "the most vicious dictator and murderer" who
indulges in western luxuries.
"People are starving to death, but it (the North Korean government) is launching
a missile," said Park Sang-hak, a North Korean defector and leader of the
Fighters for Free North Korea.
The defectors' group and the Abductees' Family Union, an organization of families
of South Koreans allegedly held in North Korea, will send 100,000 leaflets at
noon and attach hundreds of North Korean banknotes to encourage North Korean
citizens to pick them up, Park said.
They sent tens of thousands of leaflets on Kim's birthday on Feb. 16 and plan to
fly more on April 15, the birthday of Kim's late father, Kim Il-sung. The two
dates are North Korea's biggest national holidays.
The Seoul government has called for restraint, saying such a propaganda activity
violates the spirit of mutual respect the two Koreas agreed upon in earlier
accords. The activists were briefly questioned by prosecutors last month, but no
legal action has been taken.
North Korea launched what it called a communications satellite, Kwangmyongsong-2,
via a three-stage rocket on Sunday and claimed it had successfully made it into
orbit. Seoul and Washington have contradicted that, saying the satellite fell
into the Pacific Ocean.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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