Six Americans were initially detained on Friday in South Korea for trying to throw more than a thousand plastic bottles filled with food, religious texts, money, and USB sticks in the sea to be carried to North Korea, the Associated Press reported.
Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. Embassy in Seoul for comment via email on Sunday.
Why It Matters
The use of propaganda balloons dates back to the Korean War and continued through the Cold War. Activists in North and South Korea extensively used these methods to disseminate psychological messages across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two neighbors, which are technically still at war given a peace treaty hasn’t been signed since the end of major hostilities in 1953.
Over the years, activists have sent leaflets critical of North Korea’s government and USB sticks filled with information and South Korean pop music over into North Korea, while North Korea has sent balloons carrying trash over.
What To Know
The Americans, who local outlet Yonhap, reported ranged in age from their 20s to 50s, were apprehended on Friday from a restricted area on Ganghwa Island near the North Korean border. They were first spotted by military patrol and then handed over to the police.
The group was reportedly attempting to throw around 1,600 plastic bottles filled with rice, miniature Bibles, $1 bills and USB sticks into restricted waters in hopes they would drift into North Korea, according to the AP. Police told the outlet that the Americans are being investigated, and it is not yet clear what is on the USB sticks.
They were originally suspected of violating the country’s disasters and safety act, according to Reuters, which restricts activities in “risk zones,” near the border.
Yonhap said the police did not find the need to further detain the individuals and released them.
According to the 2020 World Christian Database, over half of the population in North Korea agnostic, with around 15 percent atheist, and less than 1 percent Christian.
Years ago, the South Korean parliament approved legislation that criminalized flying propaganda leaflets towards North Korea. But in 2023, the country’s Constitutional Court struck it down, arguing it restricted free speech.
Earlier in June, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung suspended various anti-North Korea broadcasts and balloon shipments in an effort to calm tensions between the neighboring countries.
The arrest comes just two weeks after police detained an activist for flying balloons off the island with the hopes to make it to North Korea.
Last summer, Fighters for a Free North Korea, a South Korean activist group, reportedly sending 300,000 leaflets, 5,000 USB drives, and 3,000 U.S. $1 bills.
Over the course of four months, between May to November last year, North Korea reportedly flew about 7,000 balloons towards South Korea in 32 separate instances, according to the AP.
North Korean defectors fill empty plastic bottles with rice and face masks to send them toward North Korea by balloons in Seoul on June 18, 2020.
North Korean defectors fill empty plastic bottles with rice and face masks to send them toward North Korea by balloons in Seoul on June 18, 2020.
AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon
What People Are Saying
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said earlier in June that the president’s decision to shut down loudspeakers broadcasting anti-North Korea propaganda was part of efforts “to restore trust in inter-Korean relations and promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
What Happens Next
It appears that the Americans have been released but may still under investigation.