Six Americans were detained Friday in South Korea for trying to send 1,600 plastic bottles filled with rice, US dollars bills, and Bibles toward North Korea by sea, police said. The Americans tried to throw the bottles into the ocean from front-line Gwanghwa Island so they could float toward North Korean shores by the tides, said a police officer, per the AP. He added that the Americans are being investigated on allegations they violated the law on the management of safety and disasters.
Activists floating plastic bottles or flying balloons carrying anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets across the border have long caused tensions on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea expressed its anger at the balloon campaigns by launching its own balloons carrying trash into South Korea, including at least two that landed in the presidential compound in Seoul last year. In 2023, South Korea's Constitutional Court struck down a 2020 law that criminalized the sending of leaflets and other items to North Korea, calling it an excessive restriction on free speech.
But since taking office in early June, the new liberal government of President Lee Jae-myung is pushing to crack down on such civilian campaigns with other safety-related laws to avoid a flare-up in tensions with North Korea and promote the safety of front-line South Korean residents. On June 14, police detained an activist for allegedly flying balloons toward North Korea from Gwanghwa Island. Lee took office with a promise to restart long-dormant talks with the North and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula. It's unclear, however, if North Korea will respond to Lee's conciliatory gesture after it vowed last year to sever relations with South Korea and abandon the goal of peaceful Korean reunification.
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