Defectors Send Anti-Pyongyang Leaflets Across Border

PAJU, South Korea (ANTARA/AFP) - Former defectors launched leaflets from South Korea into the North Wednesday, to coincide with the funeral of Kim Jong-Il, calling for an uprising against its ruling dynasty. Some 50 defectors floated large gas-filled balloons carrying some 200,000 leaflets after an anti-North Korean rally at Imjingak, a tourist site near the border north of Seoul. The leaflets lambasted the North's dynastic transition to Kim's youngest son and successor Jong-Un. "Let's fight against the third-generation transfer of dictatorship from our sworn enemies, (founding president) Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il, to Kim Jong-Un," the leaflets read. Banners reading "Kim Jong-Il. Go to hell!" and "Kim Jong-Un is doomed to collapse!" were attached to the balloons. They also carried one-dollar bills, an incentive for North Koreans to overcome fears of punishment and pick up the leaflets. "Today we are sending leaflets urging the reform and openness of North Korea, which has not changed at all after the death of Kim Jong-Il," defector Park Sang-Hak told reporters. Kim died of a heart attack on December 17 at age 69. The North has proclaimed his son Jong-Un as "great successor". South Korean activists have regularly sent leaflets over the border lambasting the ruling Kim dynasty or carrying news of the popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa in the past year. The communist North, which tightly controls news from outside, has threatened to fire across the heavily fortified border to stop the launches.(*)