North Korean defectors and activists fly anti-Pyongyang leaflets tethered to balloons across the border in Paju, Gyeonggi Province in this April 2, 2016 photo. / Korea Times file

By Kang Seung-woo

The government's plan to legislate a ban on anti-North Korea leaflet campaigns may become a matter of contention with the United States, as concern over the move is coming to the fore in Washington, according to diplomatic experts, Monday.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea has sought to pass a bill that will prevent mainly North Korean defectors and human rights activists from flying propaganda leaflets or other materials critical of the Kim Jong-un regime over the border into North Korea with the claim that it will help protect residents in border regions and ease cross-border tensions.

The latest criticism of the proposed law came from Chris Smith, a veteran Republican Congressman who co-chairs the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the House of Representatives, a bipartisan congressional body that promotes, defends and advocates for human rights.

"I am troubled that legislators in an ostensibly vibrant democracy would contemplate criminalizing conduct aimed at promoting democracy and providing spiritual and humanitarian succor to people suffering under one of the cruelest communist dictatorships in the world," Smith said on his official website, Friday (local time).

Saying the party's move was in violation of South Korea's Constitution and its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Smith added, "We see undue acquiescence not only to the communist Democratic People's Republic of Korea ― as evidenced by this inane legislation criminalizing humanitarian outreach to North Korea ― but also a diplomatic tilt towards communist China."