Not to long after the anti-North Korea activist groups restarted their propaganda leaflet operations, the South Korean government is again taking measures to stop them:

South Korea’s government, trying to mend ties with the North, on Wednesday announced restrictions on a cross-border leaflet campaign that activists plan next month.

The unification ministry, which handles cross-border ties, said it wouldn’t let activists attach North Korean bank notes to the anti-Pyongyang leaflets they float across the frontier by balloon.

“The government will sternly deal with those who violate our law,” spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said, adding that offenders could face a jail term of up to three years or a fine.

South Koreans can bring in North Korean won only for trade purposes, he said.

The ministry has appealed in vain to Seoul-based rights groups to halt the leaflet launches, which anger the North. But Seoul has said it can’t legally ban them.

The activists, including Christians and defectors, have attached dollar bills to some leaflets to encourage North Koreans to pick them up despite the risk of punishment in the hard-line communist state.

But Choi Sung-yong, who campaigns for the return of South Koreans abducted by the North, said this month his group would use North Korean won in the future after hearing that people found with dollar bills had been punished.

On Wednesday, Choi said he would go ahead despite the ministry warning.  [AFP]

How come I have this feeeling that this law will be enforced as stringently as the country’s traffic and prostitution laws?