SEOUL (AFP) — South Korean rights activists Tuesday launched more propaganda leaflets into North Korea after scuffling with critics who accused them of straining cross-border relations, witnesses said.
The scuffles erupted when dozens of left-leaning critics tried to stop the rights groups from launching the balloon-borne leaflets across the border, witnesses said.
The two sides exchanged kicks, punches and curses. One person suffered a head injury and was taken to hospital despite police intervention.
Officers took away some activists from both sides for questioning, including Park Sang-Hak who heads the Fighters for Free North Korea, a group representing defectors. Park was later released.
North Korea, which Monday began tightly restricting border crossings by South Koreans amid worsening ties, has strongly criticised the leaflet launches.
It accuses the Seoul government of condoning them but authorities here say they have no legal way to stop the launches. The government says it has pleaded in vain for the rights groups to stop.
Park and his partner Choi Sung-Yong, who works for the release of southern abductees held by Pyongyang, had prepared to launch 100,000 leaflets Tuesday but were not able to dispatch all of them.
"We were unable to send all the leaflets because of those commies," Choi briefly told AFP by phone from a police station where he was being questioned.
He said only about 10,000 were launched because of the scuffles. Park fired a tear gas pistol in the air at one point to prevent the left-leaning activists from approaching him.
The leaflets denounce the North's leader Kim Jong-Il as a dictator and criticise his luxurious lifestyle. They also carry reports that Kim, who is said to have suffered a stroke this summer, is unwell.
Some leaflets have dollar bills attached, to encourage people to pick them up despite the risk of punishment in the hardline communist state.
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