"President Moon Criticizes North Korea Leaflet Ban Law as Prioritizing North Korean Interests Over South Korea"

Overseas North Korea Experts Express Unified Concern
"Freedom of Expression is a Core Value of Democracy"

On the night of June 22, a balloon for sending leaflets to North Korea, sent by a defector organization, fell on June 23 in a nearby hill in Magok-ri, Seomyeon, Hongcheon-gun, Gyeonggi Province.
The discovered balloon for sending leaflets to North Korea was 2 to 3 meters in size, with a photo of North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un and his family attached.

As the Act Prohibiting the Distribution of Leaflets to North Korea (an amendment to the Act on the Development of Inter-Korean Relations) finally passed the plenary session of the National Assembly, voices of criticism have erupted from overseas North Korea experts, pointing out violations of freedom of expression and a submissive stance toward North Korea.

Michael McCaul, the Republican ranking member of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a statement on the 14th (local time) immediately after the passage of the Act Prohibiting the Distribution of Leaflets to North Korea, saying, "Freedom of expression is a core value of democracy," and that (the Korean National Assembly’s recent action) "raises concerns," according to Voice of America (VOA) on the same day.

Rep. McCaul said, "The U.S. Congress has long supported bipartisan efforts to provide external information to North Korea, which is under a closed dictatorship," adding, "The bright future of the Korean Peninsula depends on North Korea becoming like South Korea, not the other way around." He argued that the Act Prohibiting the Distribution of Leaflets to North Korea infringes on freedom of expression, which is something only possible in North Korea.

Roberta Cohen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former U.S. State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Rights, told Radio Free Asia (RFA), "The inflow of information into North Korea is one of the most important ways to promote change in that society," and pointed out, "Limiting that possibility only strengthens Kim Jong-un’s leadership and deepens the isolation of North Korean residents."

Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), criticized, "To prepare for unification, inter-Korean reconciliation, and peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, more information should be delivered to North Korean residents," adding, "Reducing such information is not the appropriate way."

Gordon Chang, a U.S. Korea expert and attorney, also said, "South Korean President Moon Jae-in is doing his best not to pursue his own country's interests but to help North Korea."

The South Korean government and ruling party intend to use the passage of the Act Prohibiting the Distribution of Leaflets to North Korea as a turning point for improving inter-Korean relations. Kim Yo-jong, First Deputy Director of the Workers' Party Central Committee of North Korea, warned of severing inter-Korean relations by raising the issue of leaflets to North Korea in a statement last June. In response, the government and ruling party actively pushed the bill, and North Korea’s demand to prohibit leaflet distribution was realized within half a year.

However, Ken Gause, director of the U.S. Navy’s Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), said, "It is uncertain how effective this will be in resuming dialogue between the two Koreas." He predicted, "The South Korean government may think this decision will open the door to resuming inter-Korean talks, but North Korea will not seriously consider dialogue with South Korea until it resolves its relationship with the United States."

Furthermore, there are concerns that this measure rewards North Korea’s wrongful actions with wrongful compensation, potentially causing South Korea to lose leadership in inter-Korean relations. By responding to North Korea’s demand to raise the issue of leaflets, South Korea risks giving North Korea the mistaken confidence that their hardline stance was correct. It is not unlikely that North Korea, seeing the actual enforcement of the Act Prohibiting the Distribution of Leaflets to North Korea, will increase demands and pressure on the South.

Meanwhile, the day before, the National Assembly passed an amendment to the Act on the Development of Inter-Korean Relations, which prohibits the distribution of leaflets and similar acts in border areas. The amendment stipulates that those who distribute leaflets or conduct loudspeaker broadcasts violating inter-Korean agreements near the Military Demarcation Line may be punished with imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million won.

However, defector organizations strongly oppose this bill, arguing that it infringes on freedom of expression. Park Sang-hak, head of the Free North Korea Movement Alliance, announced through his lawyer that he plans to file a constitutional appeal after the enforcement of the Act Prohibiting the Distribution of Leaflets to North Korea.

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