South Korea's government will charge two activist groups that have been floating anti-Pyongyang leaflets and bottles filled with rice to North Korea for breaking the law by sending unauthorised materials to the rival nation.
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The announcement by Seoul's unification ministry came a day after North Korea announced it was cutting off all communication channels with South Korea over its inability to prevent North Korean defectors and other activists flying the leaflets across the border.
Ministry spokesman Yoh Sang-key told reporters on Wednesday the two organisations to be charged had "created tensions between the South and North and brought danger to the lives and safety of (South Korean) residents in border areas".
Seoul's legal action is likely to trigger a debate over freedom of expression and whether President Moon Jae-in's liberal government is sacrificing democratic principles to keep alive his ambitions for inter-Korean engagement.
For years, activists have floated huge balloons into North Korea carrying leaflets criticising leader Kim Jong-un over his nuclear ambitions and dismal human rights record.
The leafleting has sometimes triggered a furious response from North Korea, which bristles at any attempt to undermine its leadership.
Yoh said the two groups to be charged, led by North Korean defector Park Sang-hak and his brother Park Jung-oh, violated a law governing inter-Korean exchanges and co-operation by sending unauthorised materials to the North.
Park Sang-hak's Fighters for a Free North Korea has launched balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets for years.
Park Jung-oh leads the group Keun Saem, which on Monday unsuccessfully tried to float rice-filled bottles into North Korea before being blocked by South Korean police.
Australian Associated Press
