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Seoul, South Korea – Six Americans were arrested on Friday South Korea Having tried to send 1,600 plastic bottles filled with rice, American dollar tickets and bibles to North Korea At sea, police said.
The Americans tried to throw the bottles in the sea from the island of Gwanghwa from the front line so that they can float towards the North Korean coast by the tides, said that a police officer who had spoken under the cover of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media on the issue. He said they were investigating allegations according to which they had violated the law on security and disaster management.
A second South Korean policeman confirmed the detentions of the Americans.
The police gave no other details, especially if one of the six had made previous attempts to send bottles to North Korea.
Activists floats plastic bottles or flying balloons carrying propaganda leaflets from North Korea through the border have long caused tensions on the Korean peninsula. North Korea has expressed its anger at balloon campaigns by launching its own Balloons carrying garbage in South Korea, including at least two which Landed in the presidential complex in Seoul last year.
In 2023, the Constitutional Court of South Korea canceled a law of 2020 which criminalized the sending of leaflets and other articles in North Korea, describing it as excessive restriction of freedom of expression.
But since its entry into office in early June, the new liberal government of the president Lee Jae Myung Pushes to suppress these civil campaigns with other laws related to security in order to avoid extensive tensions with North Korea and promote the safety of South Korean residents of the front line.
On June 14, police arrested an activist for allegedly stolen balloons to North Korea from Gwanghwa Island.
Lee took office with a promise to restart long -term talks with North Korea and establish peace in the Korean peninsula. Lee’s government arrested the front line Anti-Pyongyang propaganda loudspeakers To try to mitigate military tensions. North Korean emissions have not been heard in the South Korean cities on the front line since then.
It is not yet known whether North Korea will respond to Lee’s conciliation gesture after having sworn last year to break relations with South Korea and abandon the objective of Pacific Korean reunification. Official discussions between Koreas have stalled since 2019, when the Diplomacy led by the United States on North Korean denuclearization derailed.
