South Korean authorities have detained six American citizens who were attempting to send an estimated 1,300 plastic bottles filled with rice, US dollar bills, and Bibles to North Korea by sea. The US suspects were apprehended in the early hours of Friday morning after they were caught trying to release the bottles into the sea from Gwanghwa island, near a restricted front-line border area with North Korea, South Koreas official Yonhap news agency reports. The six were taken into custody after a coastal military unit guarding the area reported them to the police. The area in question is restricted to the public after being designated a danger zone in November due to its proximity to the north.
Activists floating plastic bottles or flying balloons across South Koreas border with the north have long caused tensions on the Korean Peninsula.An administrative order banning the launch of anti-Pyongyang propaganda towards the north is already in effect for the area, according to Yonhap. On June 14, police detained an activist for allegedly flying balloons towards North Korea from Gwanghwa Island. Two South Korean police officers confirmed the detentions of the six with The Associated Press news agency but gave no further details. In 2023, South Koreas Constitutional Court struck down a 2020 law that criminalised the sending of leaflets and other items to North Korea, calling it an excessive restriction on free speech.
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