(2nd LD) Cheong Wa Dae warns of tough crackdown on leaflet launches into N. Korea

(ATTN: CHANGES headline; UPDATES throughout with Cheong Wa Dae's statement; CHANGES photo)
By Lee Chi-dong

SEOUL, June 11 (Yonhap) -- Cheong Wa Dae warned Thursday that the government would thoroughly crack down on a campaign to launch propaganda leaflets across the border into North Korea in its first official statement on Pyongyang's renewed brinkmanship highlighted by an announcement to sever all inter-Korean communication lines.

The office of President Moon Jae-in expressed "strong regret" over the continued launches of anti-Pyongyang leaflets by activists here, mostly defectors, citing a set of inter-Korean agreements intended to halt such acts.

The launches not only constitute a breach of South Korean laws, including the inter-Korean exchange and cooperation act, but also do not meet the accords between the two sides, Kim You-geun, deputy director of Cheong Wa Dae's national security office, said in a statement.

"It's of no help to our efforts to achieve peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula either," he added, speaking after a meeting of the National Security Council's standing committee.

The government will "thoroughly crack down" on the act of sending such leaflets and related materials across the border, added Kim, who doubles as head of the secretariat of the NSC.

He then reaffirmed the South's commitment to abiding by all inter-Korean agreements signed to maintain peace and avoid accidental military clashes.

The NSC session was presided over by Chung Eui-yong, director of national security at the presidential office.

Earlier in the day, the Ministry of Unification filed a criminal complaint with police against two North Korean defector groups for sending leaflets.

Critics of the Moon administration's policy on the North have accused Cheong Wa Dae itself of staying silent to curry favor with the unpredictable communist neighbor.

A Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters it's not appropriate for the presidential office to react to every message from the North that newspapers here often pick up.

He mentioned Uriminzokkiri, a well-known North Korean propaganda outlet. It's just a website run by a propaganda organ operated under the wing of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, which is in charge of Pyongyang's daily tasks on Seoul, he said on the customary condition of anonymity.

lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)