South Korea Unable to Stop Activists Pamphleting North Korea
Sent pro-democracy leaflets across the border with balloons
South Korean police on Monday tried for hours to block a civic group from sending pro-democracy leaflets across the border by balloon after North Korea threatened the activists with a "merciless military strike," but the South's efforts ultimately failed.
Hundreds of police swarmed roads near the peninsula's demilitarized zone, encircling the vehicles that were transporting activists to the planned launch site. After a 3 1/2 hour standoff, the activists retreated, 200,000 leaflets still in the back of a van.
But hours later, after backtracking and eluding police, about 10 activists — compared with the 80 who started the day — made it to Ganghwa Island, not far from the border, where they released half of their leaflets.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?