According to reports in South Korea, six Americans were detained while attempting to ship 1,300 plastic bottles filled with rice, US dollar bills, and Bibles to North Korea by sea, according to reports.
According to South Korea’s official Yonhap news agency, the US suspects were apprehended early on Friday morning after being caught trying to release the bottles from Gwanghwa island, which is close to a restricted front-line border area with North Korea.
After a coastal military unit assisting the area reported the six to the police, they were taken into custody. Due to its close proximity to the north, the area in question has been made a danger zone in November.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been high for a long time because activists are attempting to fly balloons or plastic bottles across the border from South Korea to the north.
According to Yonhap, the area already has a law preventing the spread of anti-Pyongyang propaganda in the area.
An activist was detained on June 14 after allegedly flikling balloons from Gwanghwa Island toward North Korea.
The six were detained by two South Korean police officers, but they did not provide any more information.
A 2020 law that criminalized the sending of leaflets and other items to North Korea was overturned by South Korea’s Constitutional Court in 2023, calling it an excessive restriction on free speech.
However, President Lee Jae-myung’s new liberal government has been working hard to halt these civilian campaigns with other safety-related laws since taking office in early June in an effort to avert a rise in tensions with North Korea and promote the safety of South Korean residents on the front lines.
Lee assumed office with the pledge to restart long-dormant negotiations with North Korea and bring about peace on the Korean Peninsula. Since then, his government has stopped front-line anti-Pyongyang propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts, and similar North Korean broadcasts have not been heard in South Korean front-line cities.
After vowing to end relations with South Korea last year and abandon the goal of peaceful Korean reunification, it is unclear whether North Korea will accept Lee’s conciliatory gesture.
Source: Aljazeera
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