(EDITORIAL from the Korea Herald on Oct. 31)

Leaflets to N.K.
Leaflets denouncing North Korea sent across the border in balloons are becoming the latest thorn in inter-Korean relations.

At a South-North military discussion held inside the DMZ on Monday, the North
demanded an immediate end to the delivery of the leaflets. If the sending of
leaflets continues, the Gaesong joint industrial complex will suffer
repercussions and the passage of South Koreans through the Military Demarcation
Line will be blocked, the North Koreans warned.
North Koreans obviously view the leaflets as a serious threat. The issue was
brought up in a meeting of military officers from the two Koreas earlier this
month, and similar threats against the Gaesong joint industrial complex were also
made.
The North Korean demand for an immediate end to the distribution of the leaflets,
and the South Korean NGOs' persistence in distributing them, has put the South
Korean government in a rather awkward position.
Both governments stopped blaring propaganda messages and sending leaflets across
the military demarcation line after reaching an agreement in 2004. However, there
are no legal grounds enabling the government to step in and stop civic groups
from sending leaflets into North Korea.
Various civic groups campaigning for human rights in North Korea, and families of
people kidnapped to North Korea continue to send leaflets despite being asked to
stop by the South Korean government and businesses with factories in Gaesong.
On Monday, activists and North Korean defectors sent a balloon containing 40,000
leaflets from a boat near the eastern sea border and another 60,000 leaflets were
went from Ganghwa-do in the West Sea.
The same two groups plan to send 100,000 leaflets sometime between the end of
this month and early November from near the DMZ. The leaflets will contain
information on the ill health of Kim Jong-il, a list of South Koreans kidnapped
by the North, as well as writings entitled "The Truth about the Korean War," and
"Why North Korea is Doomed."
North Koreans must understand that in a democracy, the government cannot simply
order civic groups around. Indeed, the South Korean government can only persuade
the NGOs to refrain from dropping leaflets.
The NGOs involved in leaflet dropping are urged to exercise restraint and halt
their operations. Inter-Korean relations have virtually frozen since the
inauguration of the Lee Myung-bak administration and the civic groups must
carefully review the pros and cons of continuing distribution in such an
environment.
The groups are not being asked to bow under North Korean threats. Rather, they
are being asked to look at the bigger picture -- they have nothing to gain by
deteriorating South-North relations.
A Christian group that had sent over 10 million leaflets to North Korea since
2003 said Wednesday that it would temporarily halt the distribution of leaflets.
While the group plans to continue sending leaflets to "open the eyes, ears and
mouths of North Koreans," it will stop distributing them for now in consideration
of inter-Korean relations and the South Korean government's position, it said.
It is hoped that more NGOs will follow suit in exercising restraint.
(END)