Defector Group Announces Rice PET Bottle Dropping into North Korea... Ministry of Unification "Will Strictly Block"

"Strengthening On-Site Response and Crackdowns... Punishments to be Enforced Simultaneously"
"North Korean Defector Groups to Face Corporate Cancellation Procedures Even if They Do Not Attend Hearings"

After North Korea blew up the Kaesong Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office and announced plans to resume military exercises, escalating tensions between the two Koreas, on the 18th, South Korean and North Korean military posts face each other in the border area of Paju, Gyeonggi Province.
Photo by Kim Hyun-min, Paju kimhyun81@

A North Korean defector organization has announced an event to send PET bottles filled with rice to the North on the 21st in Ganghwa Island, Incheon, while the Ministry of Unification stated on the 19th that it will "strictly block leaflet distribution and lead efforts to prevent recurrence."

Cho Hye-sil, deputy spokesperson of the Ministry of Unification, said at a regular briefing held at the Government Seoul Office Building on the same day, "The government will closely cooperate with the police and local governments to strengthen on-site response and crackdowns, while also enforcing punishments for violations of the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act."

Earlier, the defector organization "Keunsam" publicly announced that it would hold an event on the 21st at the Seokmodo coast to send PET bottles filled with rice to the North.

Additionally, the Ministry of Unification has initiated the procedure to cancel the corporate registration of the defector organizations Keunsam and the Free North Korea Movement Alliance, which had announced plans to distribute leaflets to the North. It is reported that the Ministry has notified these organizations of the hearing schedule related to the cancellation. The Ministry stated that even if these organizations do not attend the hearing, the related procedures will proceed according to the law.

Deputy spokesperson Cho explained, "If the government notifies these organizations of the related procedures and they receive the notification but fail to attend without justifiable reasons or do not express their intention and are absent, the hearing process may proceed without their attendance according to relevant laws." He added, "After conducting the hearing process, the results will be comprehensively considered, and the procedure to cancel the corporate registration will proceed."

Regarding the trend of North Korea putting forward Kim Yo-jong, the first deputy director of the Workers' Party, while not showing the appearance of Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission, Cho said, "There is nothing particular to mention."

Meanwhile, concerning the scale of damage caused by North Korea's demolition of the Kaesong Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office, the Ministry of Unification stated that it is difficult to accurately estimate the damage.

Deputy spokesperson Cho said, "At present, it is difficult to specify the exact amount of damage loss," but added, "South and North Korea agreed to open the Inter-Korean Liaison Office in September 2018, and the cost for renovating the building amounted to 3.3 billion won."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.