David Giddings
In June 2020, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) – the official news agency of the DPRK released a news item titled ‘Kim Yo Jong rebukes S. Korean authorities for conniving at anti-DPRK hostile act of “defectors from North”. In this news item, KCNA published the full text of the statement of Ms. Kim Yo Jong, first vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea. Here is the full text:
On May 31 I heard a report that so-called “defectors from the north” scattered hundreds of thousands of anti-DPRK leaflets into the areas of our side from the frontline areas.
What matters is that those human scum hardly worth their value as human beings had the temerity of faulting our supreme leadership and citing “nuclear issue”.
I wonder if the world knows what kind of riff-raffs those foolish “defectors from the north” are.
It is height of irony. Those fool who are almost illiterate wanted to talk about “nuclear issue” though they know no concept about it. This is like “a shop-boy near a temple chanting a sutra untaught”.
Human scum little short of wild animals who betrayed their own homeland are engrossed in such unbecoming acts to imitate men. They are sure to be called mongrel dogs as they bark in where they should not.
Now that the mongrel dogs are doing others harm, it is time to bring their owners to account.
I would like to ask the south Korean authorities if they are ready to take care of the consequences of evil conduct done by the rubbish-like mongrel dogs who took no scruple to slander us while faulting the “nuclear issue” in the meanest way at the most untimely time.
I detest those who feign ignorance or encourage more than those who move to do others harm.
The south Korean authorities must be aware of the articles of the Panmunjom Declaration and the agreement in the military field in which both sides agreed to ban all hostile acts including leaflet-scattering in the areas along the Military Demarcation Line.
There should be a certain degree of discretion, however deep the north-south hostile relations are and however much hostility the south harbors against its fellow countrymen in the north.
It is hard to understand how such sordid and wicked act of hostility is tolerated in the south at a time as now.
Before long the nation is to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the June 15 joint declaration. If such an act of evil intention committed before our eyes is left to take its own course under the pretext of “freedom of individuals” and “freedom of expression”, the south Korean authorities must face the worst phase shortly.
If they truly value the north-south agreements and have a will to thoroughly implement them, they should clear their house of rubbish, before thoughtlessly blowing the “supporting” bugle.
Before making lame excuses, they should at least make a law to stop the farce of human scum to take thoroughgoing preventive measures against any inglorious things.
Clearly speaking, the south Korean authorities will be forced to pay a dear price if they let this situation go on while making sort of excuses.
If they fail to take corresponding steps for the senseless act against the fellow countrymen, they had better get themselves ready for possibility of the complete withdrawal of the already desolate Kaesong Industrial Park following the stop to tour of Mt. Kumgang, or shutdown of the north-south joint liaison office whose existence only adds to trouble, or the scrapping of the north-south agreement in military field which is hardly of any value.
Good faith and reconciliation can never go together with hostility and confrontation.
They must have seen it several times in the world – expectation turning into hopelessness and hope ending in nothing. So they had better do what they should do if they do not want to face the worst phase.
From the above statement, my readers have learned how leaflets and various propaganda materials are sent inside the DPRK territory through balloons. It resembles a similar tactic followed by the mega-terror outfit Hamas, where balloons fitted with explosives are sent from Gaza into Israeli territory, which is considered as terrorism. Similarly, the pattern of propaganda of South Korea is equally a kind of propaganda terror, if not even worse.
On December 10, 2020, most of the western media, including the US media published a news item stating, South Korea’s ruling party is pushing a law through parliament that would criminalize sending leaflets, flash drives and money to North Korea [DPRK].
It further wrote: “The move follows pressure from Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who in June labeled defectors based in South Korea “human scum” and “mongrel dogs” for sending items across the border designed to undermine the North Korean regime. She warned Seoul would face a “dear price” unless it prevented this “wicked and sordid act of hostility.”
The US media had no shame in openly confessing of DPRK “defectors” and “activist groups” based in South Korea have long been sending printed materials and digital drives containing anti-DPRK propaganda, along with Bible, food and even cash.
Although the US media were using “defectors from North Korea” as the senders of the balloons, it is well understood that such wrong practices can never continue within the borders of any country without the support of state machinery. In this case, obviously, the intelligence agencies in South Korea are very much involved in such illegal practices, which obviously goes against the Geneva Convention as well as the sovereignty of the DPRK.
The rogue practice of sending balloons filled with propaganda materials as well as provocative materials with the ulterior motive of creating social unrest in DPRK can only be termed as hooliganism. If South Korea considers itself as a sensible nation and if they sincerely expect peace in the Korean Peninsula, the culture of balloon hooliganism or balloon terror must stop at once. Policymakers in South Korea should note, any form of reckless propaganda or actions such as balloon terror can only jeopardize relations between any neighboring nations. Policymakers in Seoul should withdraw themselves from such evil practices.
David Giddings is a political analyst, research-scholar and freelance columnist
