North Korean Media: "South Korea's Leaflet Distribution Spreads COVID-19... Will Pay the Price"

"Yoon Government Permits North Korean Leaflet Distribution... Unacceptable"

The moment just before launching the balloon disclosed by the Free North Korea Movement Alliance. / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Nayeon] A North Korean propaganda outlet claimed that the spread of the COVID-19 virus in North Korea is linked to the 'ppira (anti-North Korea leaflets)' sent from South Korea and warned that they will make them pay the price.

The external weekly magazine Tongil Sinbo on the 16th stated, "Recently, the Free Joseon Movement again launched large balloons containing anti-Republic leaflets and filthy items," and condemned it as "an openly confrontational act that cannot be tolerated."

The Free Joseon Movement claimed that on the 5th of last month in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, on the 28th of last month in Ganghwa County, Incheon, and on the 6th of this month in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, they sent balloons containing leaflets and masks to the North.

The Free North Korea Movement Alliance announced on the 7th that on the 6th, they sent a large balloon carrying COVID-19 related medicines and other supplies to North Korea from Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province.
Photo by Free North Korea Movement Alliance

Tongil Sinbo said, "According to the investigation by the National Emergency Anti-epidemic Command, the first outbreak area of the COVID-19 infection that entered the Republic's border was confirmed to be the front-line area near the Military Demarcation Line," adding, "This shows that the malignant epidemic spreading within the Republic's border is not unrelated to the leaflet-spraying acts of defectors' trash."

It continued, "What is even more unacceptable is that the Yoon Seok-yeol traitorous faction is not only refusing to investigate these anti-Republic leaflet-spraying acts by human trash but is also directly providing the means to spray leaflets, pushing them into an anti-Republic psychological warfare," it pointed out.

Furthermore, it claimed, "The Yoon Seok-yeol faction's condoning and incitement of these provocative and extremely dangerous acts clearly proves that the traitorous faction is nothing but human filth akin to defector trash and the main cause of a great disaster."

Tongil Sinbo warned again, "The Yoon Seok-yeol traitorous faction must clearly understand that if the anti-Republic leaflet-spraying acts continue, they will pay a heavy price," adding, "The consequences will not be limited to the level of the joint inter-Korean liaison office explosion that occurred two years ago."

However, contrary to the claim that the South is not investigating and is encouraging the leaflet distribution, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Security Investigation Division is conducting a pre-investigation (internal inquiry) into the Free Joseon Movement.

Meanwhile, the Free Joseon Movement has already been booked on charges of violating the Act on the Development of Inter-Korean Relations (Anti-Leaflet Act) for distributing leaflets containing a photo of then President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol in the Gimpo area of Gyeonggi Province on April 25-26 of this year.

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