Families of Abductees Association to Announce Suspension of Leaflet Distribution to North Korea on July 8

Joint Press Conference with Paju City
"We Will Not Send Newsletters, Trusting the Government"

The Families of Abductees Association will hold a joint press conference with Paju City to announce the suspension of leaflet distribution toward North Korea.

The Families of Abductees Association and Paju City will hold the press conference at 11 a.m. on July 8 at the outdoor lounge on the second floor of the Korean Peninsula Ecological Peace Tourism Center in Imjingak. Paju Mayor Kim Kyoungil, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Yoon Ho-duk, and repatriated abductees are expected to attend.

Yonhap News Agency

Choi Seongryong, head of the Families of Abductees Association, stated, "After discussions with the affected families, we have decided to completely halt the distribution of leaflets to North Korea," and announced that he will present a declaration containing these details at the press conference. Mayor Kim and lawmaker Yoon also plan to use the press conference to call on other leaflet-sending groups to join the suspension and to appeal for the creation of an atmosphere of reconciliation between the two Koreas.

Choi explained, "The first event to send newsletters was held at Imjingak, and since there have been many confrontations and conflicts here, it is meaningful to make the suspension declaration at Imjingak as well." He added, "Although we recently won an injunction lawsuit at the Supreme Court to prohibit leaflet distribution to North Korea, we will no longer send newsletters, trusting this government."

Previously, on June 24, after receiving a consolatory phone call from Vice Minister of Unification Kim Namjoong, the Families of Abductees Association stated at the Belgian-Luxembourg Korean War Memorial in Dongducheon that they would consider suspending leaflet distribution.

Last October and this April, the group held two public leaflet distribution events at Imjingak, but both were canceled due to opposition from the Gyeonggi Provincial Special Judicial Police, residents in border areas, and civic groups. As a result, they secretly sent leaflets on April 27 this year at Imjingak in Paju, on May 8 in Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province, and on June 2 in a border area of Paju. During this process, there were injunction requests and complaints filed by civic groups, as well as police investigations.