(LEAD) Defectors send anti-Pyongyang leaflets on N.K. founder's birth anniversary

(ATTN: UPDATES with report of pro-N.K. leaflets in South Korea and photo in last four paras)

GIMPO, South Korea, April 15 (Yonhap) -- A group of North Korean defectors in South Korea on Saturday sent hundreds of thousands of anti-Pyongyang leaflets via helium balloons across the inter-Korean border in time for the 105th birth anniversary of the North's late founder Kim Il-sung.

The Fighters for Free North Korea said its members sent some 300,000 leaflets from a mountain in Gimpo, just west of Seoul, starting at 5 a.m., condemning the North Korean regime and its role in the assassination of leader Kim Jong-un's elder half brother, Kim Jong-nam, in February in Malaysia.

Besides the leaflets, the 10 gas-filled balloons also contained 2,000 one-dollar bills, 1,000 USB storage devices, 1,000 DVDs and 500 booklets, the group said.

Large placards attached to the balloons featured photos of Kim Jong-un and Kim Jong-nam, which were titled "murderer" and "dead person," respectively.

The group said the leaflets contained all the details of the assassination of Kim Jong-nam which occurred at Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb. 13, as well as criticism of the Pyongyang regime.

The leaflets slammed the Kim Jong-un regime for sticking to nuclear weapons and missiles despite its isolation in the international community and idolizing the late founder Kim Il-sung.

"We condemn dictator Kim Jong-un for persistently threatening the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the global society with nuclear weapons and missiles and murdering his half brother," group leader Park Sang-hak said.

The civic group regularly launches big balloons carrying such anti-Pyongyang leaflets in a campaign to spread dissenting messages in the reclusive country.

However, one of the 10 balloons fell in a South Korean apartment complex in Goyang, north of Seoul, at 6:30 a.m., police said, adding the complex was about 20 km away from the Gimpo mountain.

On the other hand, pro-Pyongyang leaflets apparently flown from the North were found in at least two locations in South Korea on Saturday, according to police.

A citizen in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, found four leaflets containing celebratory messages for the 105th anniversary of Kim Il-sung's birth at a park at 7:30 a.m. and reported them to police.

The color-printed leaflets liken the late Kim to the sun, police said.

A similar pro-North Kroean leaflet was also found in Samcheok, a Gangwon Province city on the east coast, at around 9 a.m. A 46-year-old Seoul resident said he discovered the leaflet while staying at a resort house in Samcheok.

ycm@yna.co.kr
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