Pyongyang warns Seoul over scattering leaflets

PYONGYANG－A senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has threatened to scrap the military agreement with the Republic of Korea unless Seoul stops scattering anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the Demilitarized Zone, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Thursday.

Kim Yo-jong, sister of the DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un and the first vice-department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, on Thursday issued a statement warning against the scattering of anti-DPRK leaflets in the frontline areas by "defectors" from the DPRK, said the report.

"On May 31, I heard a report that so-called defectors scattered hundreds of thousands of anti-DPRK leaflets into the areas of our side..." she said in the statement.

The ROK authorities "must be aware of the articles of the Panmunjom Declaration and the agreement in the military field in which both sides agreed to ban all hostile acts, including leaflet-scattering in the areas along the Military Demarcation Line", she said.

Before long, the DPRK is to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the June 15 joint declaration, she said, warning that "if such an act of evil intention committed before our eyes is left to take its own course under the pretext of 'freedom of individuals' and 'freedom of expression', the South Korean (ROK) authorities will face the worst phase shortly".

She also warned that Pyongyang will completely withdraw from the Kaesong industrial zone near the border, and shut down the joint liaison office in the city, unless Seoul stopped such actions.

The relationship between the two neighbors warmed up in 2018 when their leaders held three meetings on inter-Korean cooperation. But it stalled after Kim Jong-un failed to reach an agreement with US President Donald Trump during their meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2019.

ROK mulls ban

Hours later on Thursday, Seoul's Unification Ministry said the government was considering legislation to ban leaflet campaigns on the grounds they caused tension at the border.

Yoh Sang-key, a spokesman of the ministry, said the government had taken measures to stop the scattering of anti-DPRK leaflets.

He said most of the leaflets were found in ROK territory, noting that the leaflets caused pollution in the border area, and imposed a burden on people living there as they had to collect the waste.

He added that such acts endangering the lives and property of people residing near the border should be stopped, saying that the government had reviewed a proposed revision to the relevant law to stop acts that escalate tension in the border area.

Xinhua - Agencies