The South Korean government announced on Wednesday it will not allow local activists to bring in North Korean currency for the purpose of resending it to the North along with anti-communist leaflets.
"The government's position is that it should not permit bringing in North Korean bills, due to concern that it may damage the order of inter-Korean exchanges," Kim Ho-nyoun, spokesman for the Unification Ministry handling North Korea affairs, told reporters.
Defying the announcement, organizations of North Korean defectors and families of abducted South Koreans vowed to go ahead with a plan to fly a fresh batch of propaganda leaflets across the heavily fortified border in February. They said the new leaflets will be flown with North Korean bills attached to encourage people to pick them up.
North Korean defectors and families of South Korean citizens abducted by the North have been sending the propaganda leaflets since 2004, hoping for the fall of the communist regime. The vinyl flyers call North Korean leader Kim Jong-il a prodigal womanizer who secretly enjoys expensive wine, flashy cars and envies South Korea's prosperous capitalism.
The activists began attaching US$1 bills to the flyers in April last year. But rumors that North Korean authorities were incarcerating those found with $1 notes prompted them to replace them with higher-denominated North Korean currency, the activists said.
North Korea has repeatedly condemned the leaflet campaign as "provocative."
Choi Sung-yong, head of Family Assembly Abducted to North Korea, said the activists have already acquired North Korean bills and will send the leaflets as soon as the wind direction shifts northward next month. He did not disclose who brokered the illegal import of the bills, but said they were brought in via China.
"We are fully prepared," Choi told Yonhap News Agency. "I'm sending the money to my father in North Korea. If the government still insists this is illegal, I have nothing to say."
Choi's father, a South Korean fisherman, was allegedly abducted by North Korea in 1967.
The ministry spokesman said the decision to ban North Korean bills was reached after discussions between relevant government agencies, apparently including the Justice Ministry and the National Intelligence Service.
The activists will face punishment should they go ahead with their plan, according to the spokesman.
South Koreans may bring North Korean currency into the country only for trade purposes and must first receive government approval. Failure to abide by such rules can result in up to three years in jail or a 10 million won (US$7,300) fine.