Six US nationals have been taken into custody in South Korea close to a restricted border space with North Korea.
South Korean authorities have detained six United States residents who have been trying to ship an estimated 1,300 plastic bottles stuffed with rice, US greenback payments and Bibles to North Korea by sea, in line with information reviews.
The US suspects have been apprehended within the early hours of Friday morning after they have been caught making an attempt to launch the bottles into the ocean from Gwanghwa island, close to a restricted front-line border space with North Korea, South Korea’s official Yonhap information company reviews.
The six have been taken into custody after a coastal army unit guarding the realm reported them to the police. The realm in query is restricted to the general public after being designated a hazard zone in November as a result of its proximity to the north.
Activists floating plastic bottles or flying balloons throughout South Korea’s border with the north have lengthy induced tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
An administrative order banning the launch of anti-Pyongyang propaganda in direction of the north is already in impact for the realm, in line with Yonhap.
On June 14, police detained an activist for allegedly flying balloons in direction of North Korea from Gwanghwa Island.
Two South Korean law enforcement officials confirmed the detentions of the six with The Related Press information company however gave no additional particulars.
In 2023, South Korea’s Constitutional Court docket struck down a 2020 legislation that criminalised the sending of leaflets and different objects to North Korea, calling it an extreme restriction on free speech.
However since taking workplace in early June, the brand new liberal authorities of President Lee Jae-myung is pushing to crack down on such civilian campaigns with different safety-related legal guidelines to keep away from a flare-up in tensions with North Korea and promote the protection of front-line South Korean residents.
Lee took workplace with a promise to restart long-dormant talks with North Korea and set up peace on the Korean Peninsula. His authorities has halted front-line anti-Pyongyang propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts, and related North Korean broadcasts haven’t been heard in South Korean front-line cities since then.
It stays unclear if North Korea will reply to Lee’s conciliatory gesture after it pledged final 12 months to sever relations with South Korea and abandon the aim of peaceable Korean reunification.
Official talks between the Koreas have been stalled since 2019, when the US-led diplomacy on North Korean denuclearisation derailed.
