탈북자 단체, 대북 쌀 보내기 준비..."25일 전후엔 전단 살포"<br /><br />Despite the escalating tensions between the two Koreas, one North Korean defector-led group is determined to send hundreds of rice-filled plastic bottles across the border.<br />Another group is aiming to send more anti-Pyeongyang propaganda leaflets into the regime, despite strong opposition from the South Korean government.<br />Kim Jae-hee reports.<br />Empty plastic water bottles being filled with rice and a face mask.<br />Recent tensions between the two Koreas are not enough to stop this North Korean defector-led group trying to help people north of the border.<br />The group plans to send five hundred bottles to North Korea,... by floating them into the sea near the border on Sunday.<br />It will mark the 108th time they've sent rice to the North, since they first began in 2016.<br />The group, reiterating it's a humanitarian act,... say they don't understand why they're suddenly deemed controversial, when they've been sending goods to the North for five years now.<br />"We're sending rice and mask so North Koreans won't starve. How is this provoking them?"<br />This other group plans to send around one million anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the border,... to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War that started on June 25th, 1950.<br />They've already sent five-hundred-thousand leaflets denouncing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the regime's human rights abuses,... attaching them to hot air balloons in May.<br />They say they won't stop what they've been doing for over 15 years just because residents near the border are urging them not to provoke North Korea.<br />But, they say if Pyeongyang apologizes for blowing up the liaison office, and promise to rebuild it, they'll take a step back.<br />"We're talking facts and truth in a peaceful way. Just restore it, and apologize. Then we'll leave you alone and not send the leaflets for a while."<br />The South Korean government is stepping up efforts to prevent anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns.<br />But with the defectors determined to push ahead,... their actions are not only becoming a source of tension between the two Koreas,... but also causing internal conflict in the South.<br />Kim Jae-hee, Arirang News.<br />
