South Korea’s Defense Ministry has launched an investigation into allegations that a military propaganda unit secretly sent anti-Pyongyang leaflets to North Korea, officials said Friday. This 2013 file photo shows balloons carrying flyers ready to be floated across the inter-Korean border by right activists. File Photo by Jeon Heon-Kyun/EPA
The defense ministry has launched an investigation into allegations that a military propaganda unit secretly sent anti-Pyongyang leaflets to North Korea during former ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol’s term to provoke the North, officials said Friday.
As part of the probe, the ministry recently questioned the former and current chiefs of the defense psychological operation group and conducted an on-site investigation at front-line units under the group, according to the officials.
“The ministry has launched the investigation in accordance with orders by the defense minister,” a ministry official said, without providing further details.
The probe comes as the government has been seeking to take disciplinary measures against those involved in Yoon’s botched martial law imposition on Dec. 3. last year.
In a recent media report, a former conscript who took part in the operation raised the possibility of the military attempting to induce a North Korean attack through the leafleting campaign. He claimed the operation began in October 2023, before North Korea started sending thousands of trash balloons across the border into the South.
North Korea has strongly protested against anti-Pyongyang leaflet and loudspeaker campaigns on fears that an influx of outside information could pose a threat to the Kim Jong-un regime.
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