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By Nam Hyun-woo
The Tom Lantos Congressional Human Rights Commission that advocates for freedom of expression will hold a hearing Thursday (U.S. time) on Seoul's ban on sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border via balloons into North Korea. The hearing is anticipated to receive an angry response from the Kim Jong-un regime, especially as it will fall on the anniversary of North Korea founder Kim Il-sung's birth, a major holiday in the North.
According to the commission, it will hold a virtual hearing to discuss the role of South Korea's anti-leaflet law, which took effect March 30. Participants will include Gordon G. Chang, a lawyer and columnist, Lee In-ho, a former South Korean ambassador to Russia, and Suzanne Scholte, chair of the North Korea Freedom Coalition.
The commission has been at odds with South Korea's Moon Jae-in administration and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) over the anti-leaflet law.
The liberal ruling bloc continues to advocate for the law, claiming that the campaign may unnecessarily provoke Pyongyang, and that freedom of speech does not come before the safety of residents in border areas.
However, the commission and a number of civic groups here and abroad have denounced the law for violating the freedom of speech, as well as neutralizing one of the most effective psychological tools aimed at undermining Kim's authoritarian rule.
In December, when the law was passed in the DPK-dominated National Assembly, Scholte told Radio Free Asia that she found it "extremely disturbing that lawmakers in South Korea are taking directions from the sister of a dictator," referring to a statement from Kim Jong-un's powerful sister, Kim Yo-jong, in June 2020, demanding that Seoul ban the balloon campaign.
Though the commission is a bipartisan group, its move appears to be consistent with the Biden administration's North Korea policy direction. In last month's 2020 human rights reports, the U.S. Department of State mentioned the criminalization of the "balloon campaign" as a major human rights issue in South Korea.
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