[News Figures] "Dropping Leaflets to North Korea by Drone" Park Sang-hak, Representative of the Free Joseon Movement Alliance

Sang-hak Park, Representative of the Free North Korea Movement Alliance.
Photo by Yonhap News Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] Park Sang-hak, the head of the Free North Korea Movement Alliance, is widely known for distributing leaflets to North Korea. He is a defector and claims to be a North Korean human rights activist.

Park was born in Hyesan, Hamgyong Province, and served as a propaganda instructor for the Youth Shock Brigade of the Kim Il-sung Socialist Workers' Youth League, but he defected from North Korea in 1998. After hearing that his uncles and cousins remaining in North Korea had been purged, he reportedly began distributing leaflets to North Korea starting in 2005.

Last year, on August 15, he was attacked with an iron pipe by an assailant while ascending the podium to give a speech at the "Free Unification Anti-Jusapa 815 Ten Million Citizens Rally" held near Gwanghwamun Square. Additionally, on October 1 of the same year, near Paju City in Gyeonggi Province, he was arrested on the spot by police for violating the "Law Prohibiting Leaflet Distribution to North Korea (Inter-Korean Relations Development Act)" while releasing large balloons carrying COVID-19 masks, fever reducers (Tylenol), and anti-North Korea leaflets to support North Korean residents.

Park has been involved in controversies such as embezzlement of public funds and assaulting reporters, and he has been criticized even by some in the progressive and conservative camps. However, in 2013, he received the "Vaclav Havel Award for Creative Dissent" at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway.

Park has drawn attention again after stating on the 9th that "he is preparing to send leaflets to North Korea by drone as soon as possible." He said, "In November and December, during winter, cold air high pressure comes down from the north, so it is not possible to distribute leaflets by balloon. Drones are unaffected by the wind and can accurately drop leaflets where desired, so I plan to send leaflets to North Korea by drone."