Six Americans arrested for trying to smuggle rice into North Korea
Six Americans have been detained in South Korea for trying to float 1,600 plastic bottles filled with rice, miniature Bibles, $1 bills, and USB sticks toward North Korea.
The Americans, missionaries aged from their 20s to 50s, were apprehended on front-line Gwanghwa Island about 1.06am on Friday, local time.
Cops grabbed them before they could throw the bottles into the sea so they could float toward North Korean shores on the tides, two Gwanghwa police officers alleged.
They said the Americans are being investigated on allegations they violated the law on the management of safety and disasters.
The officers, who requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to media on the issue, refused to provide personal details of the Americans in line with privacy rules.
Gwanghwa police said they haven't yet found what is on the USB sticks.
'Because the suspects do not speak Korean fluently, we plan to conduct further questioning with the assistance of an interpreter,' they said.
Plastic bags containing Bible passages are prepared prior to being thrown into the sea by North Korean defector activists on Ganghwa island, west of Seoul on May 1, 2018
The US Embassy in South Korea had no immediate public comment.
For years, activists have sought to float plastic bottles or fly balloons across the border carrying anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets and USB thumb drives carrying South Korean dramas and K-pop songs.
This practice that was banned from 2021-2023 over concerns it could inflame tensions with the North.
North Korea responded to previous balloon campaigns with fiery rhetoric and other shows of anger.
Last year the country launched its own balloons across the border, dumping rubbish on various South Korean sites including the presidential compound.
South Korea´s Constitutional Court struck down a controversial law in 2023 that criminalized the sending of leaflets and other items to North Korea, calling it an excessive restriction on free speech.
But since taking office in early June, the new liberal government of President Lee Jae Myung is pushing to crack down on such civilian campaigns with other safety-related laws to avoid a flare-up tensions with North Korea and promote the safety of frontline South Korean residents.
Police detained an activist on June 14 for allegedly flying balloons toward North Korea from Gwanghwa Island.
Police created a dedicated task force to prevent items crossing the border into the North, in response to Friday's arrests.
'We will strengthen coordination with relevant bodies to completely block these leaflet operations and respond strictly to any violations according to the law,' they said.
Lee took office with a promise to restart long-dormant talks with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Lee's government halted frontline anti-Pyongyang propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts to try to ease military tensions.
North Korean broadcasts have not been heard in South Korean front-line towns since then.
But it's unclear if North Korea will respond to Lee's conciliatory gesture after vowing last year to sever relations with South Korea and abandon the goal of peaceful Korean reunification.
Official talks between the Koreas have been stalled since 2019, when US-led diplomacy on North Korean denuclearization derailed.
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