North Korean defectors to carry out helium balloon launch

SEOUL, March 21 (UPI) -- A group of North Korean defector activists plan to launch an anti-Pyongyang propaganda campaign in commemoration of the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan.

The South Korean organization Fighters For Free North Korea said it expects to launch 500,000 anti-North leaflets using 20 helium balloons on Saturday, local news service CBS No Cut News reported Monday.

The launch is to take place at Imjingak, a park located on the banks of the Imjin River that crosses the heavily fortified demilitarized zone.

Other organizations, including the National Action Campaign for Freedom and Democracy in Korea, a conservative group, are also to take part in the helium balloon launch.

In the course of three months, Fighters For Free North Korea plans to send 10 million flyers that condemn the North's nuclear test and missile provocations.

Some 300,000 flyers were dispatched over the border on March 3.

In 2015, the defectors had planned a similar launch on the fifth anniversary of the Cheonan sinking, but the North had threatened to retaliate with an armed response. The police also blockaded the activists, and the launch was suspended.

With the recent rise in provocations, however, South Korea police could be making more concessions to the activists.

Seoul's Unification Ministry stated Monday the distribution of leaflets to North Korea is a "fundamental right to the freedom of expression" but the activists should take national security into consideration, local television network KBS reported.

North Korea had also riled the South in February, with an airdrop of anti-Seoul propaganda leaflets that came with trash, including hundreds of cigarette butts.

The garbage drop was unprecedented and at the time raised fears that North Korea was sending lethal biochemical agents to the South.