Clashes break out near North Korea border over South activists' planned balloon launch

South Korean activists scuffled with egg-throwing residents in a border town yesterday as they tried to launch propaganda leaflets into the North despite threats of retaliation from Pyongyang.

Hundreds of riot police were deployed in the town of Paju, some 40km north of Seoul, as tensions flared when a dozen people with their faces hooded seized an activists' truck carrying balloons and leaflets.

Police also surrounded a bus carrying around two dozen activists after local residents hurled eggs at it, shouting "Go back. Don't put our lives in danger."

The activists had planned to release balloons carrying around 40,000 leaflets criticising the North's government across the heavily militarised frontier.

But with Pyongyang threatening to retaliate over the launch, local residents set up road blocks with tractors and a placard reading "Stop anti-North leaflet launch jeopardising our lives!".

"We will become the victims of shelling if leaflets are scattered," read another placard put up in a tree.

The activists retreated after a two-hour protest during which they traded insults with the residents and chanted slogans such as "Let's terminate the dictatorship of (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-un!".

Busan University professor Choi Woo-Won, the main organiser of yesterday's event, said: "Those instigated by North Korea ambushed us to block our event today, but we will come back."

Hours later, they moved to another location along the border and launched 20,000 leaflets, the South's Yonhap news agency reported, citing organisers.

Despite Seoul's stance that the activists have a democratic right to launch the leaflets, police intervened to prevent clashes between activists and residents. More than 1,000 riot police were deployed.

Pyongyang - which refers to the activists as "human scum" - has long condemned the leaflet launches. In recent weeks it has stepped up its demands for Seoul to ban the practice entirely.

Two weeks ago, North Korea border guards tried to shoot down some balloons, triggering a brief exchange of heavy machine gun fire between the two sides.

"If a rash act of scattering leaflets slandering our dignity and system is taken again in South Korea, its consequences will be very grave," the North's official newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary yesterday.

The North has warned that failure to halt future launches could scupper the planned resumption of high-level talks between the two Koreas.

Paju residents insisted the threats of military retaliation by North Korea were credible and that the activists were putting their lives and businesses at risk.

The South says there is no legal basis for a blanket ban, but has urged the activists to exercise common sense and restraint.

Police have previously prevented the launches at times of high cross-border tensions, citing the possible dangers posed to local residents.

"Things like this will trigger artillery firing at us," said Kwon Soon-wan, 63, who was born and raised in the township of Munsan, the northernmost area of Paju. "Safety is top priority because it's our lives that are hanging in the balance."

Odds of North Korean nuclear missile hitting US are low, general testifies

North Korea may be capable of fielding a nuclear-armed missile that could reach US soil, but because it has not tested such a weapon the odds of it being effective are "pretty darn low", the commander of US forces in South Korea said.

In remarks at the Pentagon, General Curtis Scaparrotti noted that North Korea claimed to have such a missile, capable of being launched from a road-mobile vehicle and therefore difficult to monitor via satellite. Some, however, have questioned whether the North Koreans have achieved all of the key technological breakthroughs, including manufacturing a nuclear warhead small enough for a long-range missile.

Scaparrotti said it would be imprudent of him to ignore their claims.

"Personally I think that they certainly have had the expertise in the past," he said.

"They've had the right connections, and so I believe they have the capability to have miniaturised a device at this point, and they have the technology to potentially actually deliver what they say they have.

"We have not seen it tested. And I don't think as a commander we can afford the luxury of believing perhaps they haven't gotten there."

Associated Press