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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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Posted: Sat May 04, 2013 8:49 pm Post subject: South Korea stops anti-North leaflet launch |
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South Korean police on Saturday stopped a planned launch of anti-North Korean leaflets across the tense border, sparking an angry protest from activists, witnesses said.
A group of defectors from the North had said they would float 200,000 leaflets over the heavily militarised frontier by balloon on Saturday to protest Pyongyang's dire human rights record.
Police set up road blocks on access routes to the planned launch site at Imjingak, and stopped a pickup truck loaded with the leaflets, towing it to a nearby police station.
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Wow, this really ticks me off. How do you guys feel about this?
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/306818/news/world/south-korea-stops-anti-north-leaflet-launch |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Location: Retired
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Posted: Sun May 05, 2013 5:07 pm Post subject: Re: South Korea stops anti-North leaflet launch |
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World Traveler wrote: |
South Korean police on Saturday stopped a planned launch of anti-North Korean leaflets across the tense border, sparking an angry protest from activists, witnesses said.
A group of defectors from the North had said they would float 200,000 leaflets over the heavily militarised frontier by balloon on Saturday to protest Pyongyang's dire human rights record.
Police set up road blocks on access routes to the planned launch site at Imjingak, and stopped a pickup truck loaded with the leaflets, towing it to a nearby police station.
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Wow, this really ticks me off. How do you guys feel about this?
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/306818/news/world/south-korea-stops-anti-north-leaflet-launch |
I think they did exactly the right thing.
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Police had said Friday they would block the launch in order to prevent possible clashes between the activists and local residents. Police stopped a similar launch by the same group on April 13.
Local residents oppose such action because the North has threatened to shell sites used to launch leaflets, which carry messages such as calls for an uprising against the communist regime.
Pyongyang on Wednesday warned it would not stand idle if the launch went ahead, condemning the plan as an "intolerable provocative act" aimed at tarnishing its image and insulting its dignity. |
They've already fired on South Korean ships and shelled an island with a military base on it...what makes you think they wouldn't shell these sites?
You don't provoke a possibly psychotic person who is desperate to establish his "credentials" to show he's a strong leader. No sense in deliberately asking for trouble.
And even if the North does nothing (not likely) what about the possible violence between the activists and residents?
And in any case the residents are the ones who have to live there...they should have the final say. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Location: I walk along the avenue
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Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 8:36 am Post subject: |
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Agree with Urban Myth. Plus, there's always the possibility that an unkowing kid on his way to school will pick up one of the leaflets, show it to his teacher, and get his whole family shipped off to the camps.
Which might be an acceptable risk if the leaflets were guaranteed to start a democratic revolution in the north. But that's highly unlikely to be the result. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Location: I walk along the avenue
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Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 8:40 am Post subject: |
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If these activists really want to have the courage of their convictions, they should enter the north and hand out the leaflets themselves, rather than sending them in from the safety of South Korea, and expecting random northerners to run all the risk. |
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