Search Results for: park sang-hak

It appears that the Moon administration wants to treat the balloon launch human rights activists like they do conservative journalists by threatening them with jail:

The unification ministry said Wednesday that it will file a complaint with police against two North Korean defector groups for sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border, a day after the North cut off all inter-Korean communication lines over such leafleting. 

The ministry said that it will also take action to revoke business permits granted to the groups, Fighters for Free North Korea and Keunsaem, accusing them of putting the safety of people living in border regions at risk by sending leaflets into the North.

“They have violated public interests by heightening tensions between the South and the North and by running squarely against the agreements reached by the leaders of the two Koreas, and also caused danger to the lives and safety of residents in the border regions,” the ministry said in a press release.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this is once again another example of how South Korea is a rule by law nation and not a rule of law nation. These activists have been doing this for years and one of their leaders Park Sang-Hak has faced assassination attempts by North Korean agents and had leftist thugs assault him to stop his balloon protests. Now with a change of government and complaints from North Korea, what they are doing is suddenly illegal.

One of my favorite defector groups, Fighters for A Free North Korea have been quiet during the Moon administration which is not friendly to defector groups. The Korean police have been sent to stop their balloon launch operations while at the same time the Moon administration allows protesters to blockade the THAAD site which is there to defend the country.

However, it appears that with the steep drop in President Moon’s popularity and the fact more people are realizing that the Kim regime will not denuclearize has given them an opportunity to restart their balloon operations:

The group, Fighters for a Free North Korea, flew 20 balloons carrying 500,000 leaflets from Yeoncheon, north of Seoul, at around 2 a.m., it said.
The balloons carried leaflets slamming the Kim Jong-un regime, as well as one-dollar bills and booklets. 
Park Sang-hak, the head of the organization, said earlier this month that it plans to send the leaflets because the North’s leader “did not keep his promise” to give up the country’s nuclear program.
The Seoul government has urged local activists to stop their leaflet campaigns, saying that they go against efforts to reduce tensions and improve ties with the North.

Yonhap

For those that don’t remember Park Sang-Hak is the leader of the group that has faced assassination attempts by North Korean agents and had leftist thugs assault him to stop his balloon protests.

I do find it interesting that the Moon administration is willing to send police to chase down these human rights activists, but they won’t send police to keep the road to the THAAD site in Seongju open:

A local civic group led by a North Korean defector attempted to send leaflets criticizing the Kim Jong-un regime across the border last weekend but was blocked by police, after both Koreas agreed at their latest summit not to disseminate propaganda material into each other’s country.

But Park Sang-hak, leader of Fighters for Free North Korea, claimed he already flew 150,000 leaflets into the North last Thursday from an undisclosed venue in Gimpo, Gyeonggi, accusing Pyongyang’s recent olive branch to Seoul of being a “disguised peace offensive.”

Park’s attempt to send more leaflets on Saturday noon from Paju, Gyeonggi, just south of the inter-Korean border, fell on the last day of the so-called North Korea Freedom Week, the last week of every April during which nongovernmental organizations promoting human rights in North Korea shed light on the regime’s atrocities.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

For those that don’t know Mr. Park Sang-hak the leader of Fighters for a Free North Korea, he is the person that the South Korean leftists have sent thugs to assault and the Kim regime has sent assassins to kill.  Despite all of this Mr. Park continues to fearlessly launch balloons into North Korea.   I think it is only a matter of time before the leftist thugs are sent after Park again.

For Suzanne Scholte pictured above I don’t know what visa she is on, but the Moon administration could try and silence her by claiming she is violating her visa by conducting political activity.  It is pretty clear that for the next few years operations for these North Korean human rights organizations is going to be very difficult.

The information war being fought inside North Korea by activists continues:

A group of North Korean defectors in South Korea on Saturday sent hundreds of thousands of anti-Pyongyang leaflets via helium balloons across the inter-Korean border in time for the 105th birth anniversary of the North’s late founder Kim Il Sung.

The Fighters for Free North Korea said its members sent some 300,000 leaflets from a mountain in Gimpo, just west of Seoul, starting at 5 a.m., condemning the North Korean regime and its role in the assassination of leader Kim Jong-un’s elder half brother, Kim Jong-nam, in February in Malaysia.

Besides the leaflets, the 10 gas-filled balloons also contained 2,000 one-dollar bills, 1,000 USB storage devices, 1,000 DVDs and 500 booklets, the group said.

Large placards attached to the balloons featured photos of Kim Jong-un and Kim Jong-nam, which were titled “murderer” and “dead person,” respectively.

The group said the leaflets contained all the details of the assassination of Kim Jong-nam which occurred at Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb. 13, as well as criticism of the Pyongyang regime.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but ROK Heads may remember that Park Sang-hak is the North Korean defector turned leader of the Fighters For A Free North Korea who the Kim regime has repeatedly threatened, sent their South Korean leftist lackeys to assault, and even tried to assassinate him a few years ago due to his balloon launch efforts.

Kim Jong-un was finally able to kill his older brother and he had his agents resort to using poison needles again.  Long time readers may remember that the Kim regime tried to kill ROK Drop favorite Park Sang-hak with a poison needle as well:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half-brother has been killed in Malaysia, a government source said Tuesday.

Kim Jong-nam was assassinated on Monday in Malaysia, the source said without revealing details.

Cable TV broadcaster TV Chosun reported that Kim was killed at an airport in Malaysia after being attacked by two unidentified female agents with “poisoned needles.” The suspects fled the scene and Malaysian police suspected North Korea was behind the killing.

If confirmed, Kim’s case would mark the most high-profile death under the Kim Jong-un regime since the execution of Jang Song-thaek in December 2013, the once-powerful uncle of the current leader.

Kim Jong-nam is the eldest son of late former leader Kim Jong-il and is living in a foreign country without holding any official title. He was born from his father’s nonmarital relationship with Sung Hae-rim, a South Korean-born actress who died in Moscow.  [Yonhap]

For those that don’t know it has long been believed that Kim Jong-nam was China’s preferred back up plan if the North Korean regime was to collapse.  With Kim Jong-nam now dead the only Kim’s left to rule North Korea are Kim Jong-nam’s other brother Kim Jong-chul who is considered too lady like to rule the country and his sister Kim Yo-jong is female and thus not a threat either.  Plus both of them are part of his close inner circle where he can closely watch them.

That left Kim Jong-nam as a possible threat for someone looking to replace Kim Jong-un with another Kim and he is now gone.  The only other possible replacement to Kim Jong-un that is not under his control is Kim Jong-nam’s son, Kim Han-sol who has been living in Europe.  I would imagine he is some deep hiding right now after seeing his father executed because he could be next.

Via a reader tip, Thae Yong-ho the North Korean diplomat who defected with his family from the North Korean embassy in the United Kingdom, has spoken out for the first time:

Mr Thae spoke to the committee behind closed doors, but Lee Cheol-woo, the committee chairman, told newswire Yonhap that he had become increasingly aware of the “gruesome realities” of the authoritarian regime.

Mr Thae promised to devote his life to “freeing the North Korean people from repression and persecution,” said Mr Lee.

“There are many ranking North Korean officials suffering from depression over concerns they will have to live like slaves for a long time if the North’s young leader rules the country for decades,” he quoted Mr Thae as saying.

“Thae said that he had come to grasp South Korea’s democracy and (economic) development by watching South Korean dramas and movies during his long stay in foreign countries,” added Mr Lee.

Mr Thae, who fled with his wife and two sons, will begin his resettlement process on Friday. He has vowed to work for Korean unification, but he will likely continue to live under tight security.

“I will engage in public activities even if it threatens my own safety,” he is reported as saying.  [The Telegraph]

You can read more at the link, but you would think this guy would want to keep a low profile because he is definitely going to be a target of North Korean reprisals.  He likely has a poison needle with his name on it right next to the one for fellow outspoken defector Park Sang-hak.  It will also be interesting to see how outspoken the ROK government will allow him to be if a Korean left wing politician likely takes power after the impeachment of Park Geun-hye.

ROK Drop favorite Park Sang-hak and his group have continued with their propaganda balloon campaign against North Korea in the wake of the Kim regime’s repeated weapons tests:

An organization made up of North Korean escapees and a conservative civic group have distributed some 100-thousand leaflets denouncing the North’s nuclear and missile tests across the border.

Amid the heightened inter-Korean tension, Fighters for Free North Korea and the National Action Campaign for Freedom and Democracy in Korea distributed the leaflets on Monday in Paju, Gyeonggi Province near the border.

The organizations said that the people have the obligation to chastise Kim Jong-un’s threats and provocations regardless of whether or not the South’s government and military engage in psychological warfare.

The organizations then called on the public to join movements to send balloons containing leaflets to the North.

Last Saturday, Fighters for Free North Korea distributed 80-thousand leaflets condemning the North from Gimpo and Paju, as the day marked the sixth anniversary of the sinking of the South Korean naval corvette Cheonan torpedoed by Pyongyang.

Park Sang-hak, the head of the group, said that the organization will continue to send what will be a combined ten million leaflets critical of Pyongyang over the next three months.  [KBS World Radio]

Sounds like another news item that Park Sang-hak and his team should send across the DMZ for North Korean citizens to read about:

An extravagant mansion for former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that cost Pyongyang tens of millions of dollars to build in 2010 has been torn down, and new construction is underway, according to satellite images from May.

The No. 15 Official Residence where Kim Jong Un‘s mother, Ko Young Hee, once lived also is the childhood home of the current North Korean leader.

Curtis Melvin of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, who used the satellite imagery in his analysis, told Radio Free Asia the roof on the north side of the building has been torn down and a landscaping project has begun in a garden section of the compound, South Korean newspaper Donga Ilbo reported.

Two satellite images were compared to produce the analysis: the first from Jan. 14 and the second from May 20 show the progress on the roof and the garden.

The residence cost tens of millions of dollars to build five years ago, and roads and railways for the former leader’s exclusive use also were built. Underground tunnels for electric trains are connected to office buildings in the compound.  [UPI]

You can read more at the link, but you have to love the power that Google Earth provides average citizens to note things like this.

According to the below article there is not much that the South Koreans can do in regards to the recent mine attack that wounded two South Korean troops.  I disagree, just for starters the ROK government should have Park Sang-hak and his team on speed dial to go launch some of their propaganda balloons with DVDs of “The Interview” on them.  Announcing government funding for defector radio stations is another option.  The biggest trump card the ROK government has is to end the near-slave labor operation going on at Kaesong that is a major Kim regime cash cow:

South Korea announced a series of measures this week aimed at deterring another North Korean land mine attack, from broadcasting anti-Pyongyang messages across the Demilitarized Zone to changing patrol times for its soldiers.

But in a climate where military officials fear that even the smallest exchange of fire could escalate into a full-blown conflict, there might be little Seoul will do to punish the North or discourage further provocations, some experts say.

Two South Korean soldiers were maimed Aug. 4 after triggering several recently planted land mines during a routine morning patrol at the DMZ, near Paju. The blasts happened about 1,440 feet south of the Military Demarcation Line, which marks the actual border between the two Koreas. One of the soldiers lost his legs, and the other lost a foot.

The land mine attack, while tragic, is a relatively minor incident in the larger picture of inter-Korean relations, and the appropriate response for Seoul is unclear, said Daniel Pinkston of the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict.

“It’s this real kind of gray area that doesn’t rise to the level of triggering some kind of military counter attack,” he said.

South Korean forces will vary patrol times so they cannot be tracked by North Korea, and will increase the number of search and reconnaissance missions along the DMZ. Troops will also conduct a sweep for additional land mines this month, and will toughen engagement rules for North Korean troops who cross into the South’s territory, according to South Korean media reports Tuesday.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

I have for many years advocated for fighting an information war within North Korea since the early days of financing defector radio stations to broadcast into North Korea.  Challenging the Kim regime’s domestic propaganda should be a primary part of any strategy to counter North Korea.  Challenging the propaganda directly challenges the Kim regime’s legitimacy.  That is why the Kim regime has been so violently outspoken against the activities of defector groups that have launched balloons into North Korea to include even trying to assassinate the group’s primary leader, Park Sang-hak.  Recently when I read about Facebook’s new effort to use drones to give Internet access to remote areas of the world the first thing I thought of was North Korea:

Facebook started teasing its internet-beaming planes last year, but now we’re seeing one that it actually built. Pictured above is Aquila, a solar-powered, 140-foot unmanned plane that’s designed to deliver internet connectivity from altitudes of 60,000 to 90,000 feet. The UAV, which has the wingspan of a Boeing 737 and weighs roughly 880 pounds, will be able to circle a specific area for up to 90 days when deployed — a feat possible thanks to its dependence on nothing but solar energy.

The Kim regime has been very active in doing everything possible to stem the tide of outside information entering North Korea.  Excluding the border areas where most of the defectors come from, the Kim regime has been very effective with controlling information entering North Korea while expanding access to technology.  The Kim regime has expanded computer and smartphone use while simultaneously creating an its own cell phone network and Intranet to control the flow of information.  The fact that border areas can use cell phone towers in China contributes to the fact more defectors come from these areas.

Imagine if everyone in North Korea was able to access an outside information network like the border areas can do using Chinese cell phone towers?  That is what Facebook’s drones may be able to do. Facebook is not the only ones pursuing this technology; Google has their own program to provide Internet to remote areas using balloons. The drones and balloons fly at altitudes greater than any aircraft North Korea has can intercept, however right now it is unclear whether they can fly at a standoff distance greater than North Korea’s anti-aircraft missiles can target the drone or balloon with.  If the technology advances to where a drone or balloon could hover over the center of the Sea of Japan and beam Internet access into North Korea, the Kim regime would not be able to target it.  What effect over the long term would that have in North Korea if citizens could secretly access the Internet without the Kim regime knowing?