A 2023 court ruling that prohibits it as an unfair infringement of free speech means that South Korea may lawfully prohibit activists from flying balloons across the border.
Park Sang-hak, an activist who defected from North Korea and has been sending anti-regime flyers north for years, claimed he flew 20 balloons laden with flash drives with K-pop and broadcast plays across the border on Thursday last year.
The North has a reputation for imposing the death penalty on its citizens who access South Korean pop culture. According to a UN report, having access to such material is notorious for the country’s citizens.
Prior to now, tensions have boiled over in serious proportions due to the dubious propaganda.
Pyongyang formally terminated all formal military and political communications with Seoul in 2020, blaming the anti-North pamphlets, and blew up a worn-out inter-Korean contact business on its side of the border.
Kim Jong Un meets Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, and Kim signed a mutual defense agreement, which has sparked controversies in Seoul, which has one of their lowest relations in years.
In reaction, the South– a significant weapons exporter – has said it did “reconsider” a lengthy- standing policy that has prevented it from supplying arms straight to Ukraine.