By It looks like Park Sang-hak and his colleagues are now back in action again:
Despite a government request, a South Korean civic group said on Thursday that it will resume sending anti-communist leaflets across the inter-Korean border in January.
The group consists of activists of whom many are North Korean defectors or family members of South Koreans who were abducted by the North. They had been flying balloons regularly across the border that dropped leaflets over North Korea, denouncing Pyongyang’s regime.
Earlier this month, most groups suspended leafleting after the ruling Grand National Party requested they stop the activity for the sake of inter-Korean relations. [KBS Global]
These activists say they have 300,000 leaflets printed and ready to be sent to North Korean next month. So how long before Kim Young-man and the rest of the useful idiots show up again to spoil the party?
3:42 am on December 30th, 2008 1
Grow a pair 2MB, support these guys. Let the useful idiots whine, and whine, and whine…….
Anyone know what their plan is to get the leaflets to land where someone will find them, rather than on a remote mountainside?
If they’re depending on the wind cooperate they may find they’ll only be as lucky as the Japanese were at sending balloons into the U.S. during World War II.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_balloon
Also, are the leaflets make of paper, or plastic? Paper ones will dissolve in a few weeks; better to make them out of submillimeter plastic sheeting?
5:40 am on December 30th, 2008 2
If I were North Korea, I’d sieze the opportunity for free air defense gun target practice targets.
5:49 am on December 30th, 2008 3
# 2
Good idea…..
The Air Defense gunners drop a balloon, obviously with their gun’s range, and many NORK’s race after the balloons, and the payload is………………
6:17 am on December 30th, 2008 4
These activists have got this propaganda leaflet balloon project down to a fine science. They know exactly how much helium gas they need to put in the balloon, and based on wind direction and speed, at what altitude the balloon must travel to get to its target.
When KDJ’s Sunshine Policy went into effect and he had his little tête-à-tête with KJI, they mutually agreed to stop sending “trash talking” (my description) style propaganda back and forth. Both sides continued to send propaganda, but what the North was sending was mostly bland crap about how great life is in the workers’ paradise – and not how the South is a puppet of the Yankee imperialists……..yada……..yada…………yada.
However, back then, any propaganda going from the South to the North was pretty much all sent by the gov’t. So the South was doing the same thing as the North – sending fluffy “life is great” in the South crap.
But these activists are sending propaganda that hits KJI where it hurts, and he’s screaming foul. I guess the concept of freedom of speech is hard for him to comprehend….and he’s probably wondering why the South Korean gov’t doesn’t handle them the way he would: by throwing them in a gulag or executing them.
6:54 am on December 30th, 2008 5
…propaganda leaflets!
4:49 pm on December 30th, 2008 6
[...] activists were physically stopping him from doing so. After a couple weeks, he’s back (Via. ROK Drop) Despite a government request, a South Korean civic group said on Thursday that it will resume [...]
6:29 pm on December 30th, 2008 7
Whats the problem?
I don’t think for a minute the people in NK have access to Headline News and the Andy Griffith Show. Your talking about a nation where the people risk their lives and the lives of their families to “escape”. Read some of the articles GI has posted about defectors from NK. Park Sang-hak needs to flood NK with those balloons. Are you kidding – were taking the side of NK now?
7:08 am on January 5th, 2009 8
[...] I’m glad to see that South Korean activists have restarted those balloon launches. [...]
12:59 am on July 4th, 2009 9
OK, here’s the ultimate solution. Anyone remember Radio Free Europe?
Since we’re in the digital age…they should be sending mp3 players, fully charged, with earphones, a ton of them from Navy Seal altitudes
over the North Korean mainland. These can have balloons that deploy at
a certain altitude and hopefully in rural areas. On these mp3 players
should be various messages that not only denounce the North Korean regime, but also samples of western music produced since the 1950′s to present that express the rest of the world’s values including Korean rap artists whose message is that they have been lied to by their government. Once the idea of doubt has been planted it will drive their propaganda machine crazy since they will have to counter the message and , besides, they can’t confiscate all of the enormous number of mp3 players that will be dropped. Also wind up chargers to keep the batteries alive in a country where utilities are often in short supply. Video messages will also be a part of the mix. After about a year of this, they will surely begin to crack at the seams.
The concept of someone deploying a nuke in this day and age (after the disaster of Chernobyl) should suggest the absolute insanity of those who, if they survive, will win or inherit only a nuclear winter that will dim in meaning due to the mass devastation. We’re supposed to be the highest form of life on this planet. Nothing gives any of us the right to talk about destroying it. Kim Jung Il even knows that there’s a world outside of his country. He will eventually become irrelevant over time as have all past selfish dictators. His government is a sham and he is a hypocrite. He knows that truth will eventually win overall. We don’t need to fire a single shot. Give the first of the mp3′s to the North Korean border guards. In a couple of decades North Korea should become a historical footnote. Think about it.
1:06 am on July 4th, 2009 10
No, iPods with audio and video messages. Examples of all styles of music produced since the 1950′s. Give em a taste of outside western culture and they’ll want more. Send so many that they can’t confiscate them all along with special wind up chargers. Keep the bombardment going for a long time and watch what happens. Drop them from airspace that Navy Seals deplay from and set the balloons to deploy at a set altitude. We’re in the digital age. A few Negroponte 100 dollar laptops with preinstalled software and messages can also work. I wish it were possible to send strong wi-fi signals from their borders
so they could see what the rest of the world is really like. Just an idea.
1:15 am on July 4th, 2009 11
pamphlets..phooey! iPods and other mp3 players with pre-loaded messages in audio and video. Dump samples of western and world music produced since 1955. See what happens. Their propoganda machine versus the rest of the world. Truth prevails. Use technology to get them current. Send so many over time they can’t possibly confiscate them all. Though they’ll try. Good luck. Once they see what they’ve missed
they won’t want to continue to live like they have. The seeds of doubt will do the rest. Do this before North Korea does something really stupid, like launch a nuclear weapon that would result in their ultimate destruction. It’s not the people’s fault that their great leader is a hypocrite and nuts. They deserve better. It’s all a sham anyway. Time the North Koreans found out the truth. The propaganda department in the north already knows this.