‘Is this Seoul, or Pyongyang?’: in Moon’s Korea, defectors from North face jail for propaganda fliers
- The practice of many North Korean defectors-turned-activists to send information leaflets over the border is set to be outlawed in the South
- Human rights activists say the clampdown betrays freedom of speech; Moon Jae-in’s government says it is necessary to ensure inter-Korean peace
Japan suspicious as Chinese, South Korean companies buy land near military sites
When the North in June blew up a liaison office that had stood as a rare symbol of cooperation between the uneasy neighbours, who were divided in the aftermath of World War II, official state media blamed Seoul’s failure to block the leaflet drops.
The legal changes are expected to pass the National Assembly, where Moon’s Democratic Party commands a strong majority, within days, amid an ongoing filibuster by conservative opposition lawmakers that has delayed the proposals moving forward.
New York-based Human Rights Watch has warned the law would “make engaging in humanitarianism and human rights activism a criminal offence”, urging Seoul to recognise that “promoting human rights is not at odds with effective foreign policy”.
“It’s a deprivation of the people’s basic rights and the constitutionally enshrined freedom of speech,” said Park, who fled the North in 1999 and now runs the advocacy group Fighters for a Free North Korea. “Is this Seoul, or is this Pyongyang?”
The Unification Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. A source close to the Moon administration, however, said the law was justified because of Pyongyang’s history of firing on border areas in retaliation for leaflets and the existence of various inter-Korean agreements prohibiting aggression between the sides.
Moon Jae-in’s vision of peace with North Korea goes up in smoke
The source also questioned the motivations of some activists, some of whom receive support from overseas.
In July, the South’s Ministry of Unification revoked the registrations of two defector-led organisations that had sent leaflets across the border, including Park’s Fighters for a Free North Korea. The ministry soon afterward began an audit of 25 non-profit groups involved in North Korea advocacy that activists viewed as politically motivated.
In September, the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights announced the government had stopped granting it access to its resettlement centre for North Korean refugees, Hanawon, severely impeding the NGO’s work of documenting abuses in the North.
01:14
South Korea resumes tours to Panmunjom ‘peace village’ at demilitarised zone shared with the North
“In the early days, I thought of Moon Jae-in as the human rights lawyer president,” said Jung Gwang-il, a North Korean defector who runs the non-profit organisation No Chain. “But what’s a shame is he’s just another one of the powerful people who’s creating a society without human rights.”
Inter-Korean relations are a divisive and politically-charged topic in the South, where attitudes about whether to engage or isolate the North often split along ideological and partisan lines. Like his predecessors on the political left, Moon, a son of North Korean refugees, has emphasised dialogue and economic cooperation to overcome divisions between the Koreas, which remain technically at war after the Korean war ended with an armistice not a peace treaty.
Australia needs South Korea, but Kim Jong-un and China are in the way
In an opinion survey carried out by Realmeter in June, 50 per cent of South Koreans said they supported banning the propaganda leaflet drops, compared to 41 per cent opposed. In 2015, a South Korean court ruled that sending leaflets across the border could not be prohibited in principle out of respect for freedom of expression, although it could be prevented in individual cases where it put people’s safety at risk.
Lee Jae-bong, a professor of political science at Wonkwang University in Iksan, about 180km southwest of Seoul, said the leaflet campaigns could not be allowed if the two Koreas were to work toward peace and reconciliation.
“The first phase of unification policy since the Roh Tae-woo administration in 1989 has been reconciliation, cooperation and peaceful coexistence,” Lee said. “One side can’t slander the other side while seeking reconciliation and cooperation.”
“No matter who is supporting it, it is desirable to block behaviour that interferes with reconciliation and cooperation, or impedes peace and unification on the Korean peninsula,” said Lee.
While the leaflet ban looks certain to become law, activists have vowed not to be deterred.
Park, who is already facing separate charges related to his leaflet campaigns and allegedly assaulting a group of journalists outside his home, said the law would only make him work harder.
“Even if I go to jail, I will send more propaganda leaflets to the North, more often,” he said. “This is the promise we North Korean defectors have made to the 20 million North Koreans who have been deprived of their basic rights and deceived by the Kim dynasty’s lies and hypocrisy. Because it’s our conscience, vocation and obligation.”