Police conduct raid over anti-N.K. leafleting

SEOUL, May 6 (Yonhap) -- Police on Thursday raided the office of a vocal North Korean defector who claimed to have sent anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets into the North in defiance of a ban.

Police launched an investigation after Park Sang-hak, head of Fighters for a Free North Korea, a North Korean defectors group, said the organization sent 10 balloons carrying around 500,000 leaflets between April 25-29.

"We are currently searching relevant locations," an official with the Seoul Metropolitan Police said. "We will conduct a swift and strict investigation."

If confirmed, Park's group will be the first to have sent the leaflets critical of the Kim Jong-un regime since Seoul banned such activity under a revised law in March.

Violations of the law are punishable by up to three years in prison or up to 30 million won (US$27,000) in fines.

The North Korean regime threatened "corresponding action" in response to the "intolerable provocation."

hague@yna.co.kr
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