Anti-Kim leaflets fuel tensions along fortified border
South Korea: A barrage of flimsy plastic leaflets is fuelling
tensions along the world's most heavily armed border, as North Korea
angrily rejects what it calls a smear campaign against leader Kim
Jong-Il.
The leaflets, borne by balloon into the hardline communist state, are
not new but lately have touched on an especially taboo subject - Kim's
health.
Kim, 66, is widely thought to have suffered a stroke in mid-August.
Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso said this week he is probably in
hospital but still capable of making decisions.
North Korea has threatened to shut down the Seoul-funded Kaesong
joint industrial complex - the most conspicuous symbol of reconciliation
- in protest at the leaflets launched by South Korean activists.
In an unusually strong message Tuesday, the North accused Seoul's spy
agency of masterminding the leaflet campaign.
It also claimed South Korea is planning a pre-emptive military strike
and threatened to reduce it to "debris" in retaliation.
Undeterred by appeals to stop from the Seoul government and Kaesong
businesses, activists Monday released another 100,000 leaflets from
fishing boats in the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan (East Sea).
The pamphlets repeated claims that Kim is sick and called on North
Koreans to topple him. "All the hard currency earned through the
people's sweat and blood ends up in Kim Jong-Il's personal vault," one
read.
"Freedom is not for free. Don't let yourselves starve to death but
stand up and fight against Kim Jong-Il. Soldiers, turn your rifle
barrels towards Dictator Kim." The leaflets depicted Kim's family tree,
claiming he has kept dozens of women as mistresses. As an incentive for
people to risk punishment by picking the leaflets up, US dollar bills or
Chinese yuan are attached to some of them.
Seoul's Unification Ministry, which handles cross-border relations,
said the government would keep trying to persuade activists to stop the
leaflet launches even though there was no law against them.
The two governments waged a cross-border propaganda barrage
throughout the Cold War. After their first reconciliation summit in
2000, they agreed to stop.
But Seoul-based private groups, led by defectors from the North and
Christians, have continued leaflet drops.
Seoul, Thursday, AFP
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