S. Korea moves to stop anti-Northern activists

S. Korea moves to stop anti-Northern activists

South Korea's government is taking legal action against two organizations led by North Korean defectors.

Activists affiliated with the groups often smuggle leaflets, food, and other contraband across the border, enraging the North, and were recently cited as Pyongyang's justification to cut diplomatic lines.

Matthew Larotonda reports.

South Korea's government says it will take legal action against two organizations there who, it says, are endangering efforts to keep peace with the North -- efforts that have already seen a marked plunge in recent months.

And it comes only a day after North Korea cited such groups to justify cutting some diplomatic channels, including daily phone calls.

The two groups are called the Kuensaem Education Center and the Fighters for a Free North Korea.

They're both run by people who defected from North Korea.

Their activists often smuggle anti-Pyongyang leaflets, food, and other contraband across the border.

For example one of the defectors, Park Sang-hak, has sent leaflets across about once a month for the past 15 years.

They often strap the leaflets to things like weather balloons and literally float it across.

It's yet clear what specific legal action will be taken against the groups, but this isn't the first time North Korea has warned the South over their activities -- nor is it the first time South Korea's government has warned the groups to stop, either.

Some local residents near the border have tried to stop them, too.

On Wednesday (June 10) a spokesman for South Korea's unification ministry said the activists had broken a treaty between the two countries, and that their actions were "a danger to the lives and safety of border-area residents." The North has been more pointed: Kim Jong Un's sister, a leading voice in his circle, says the activist defectors are, quote, "human scum, little short of wild animals." Park, the defector with the weather balloons, has taken a hardline response of his own.

He says the South will "never buy peace with flattery and begging."