6 Americans detained in South Korea for trying to send rice and Bibles to North Korea by sea
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Six Americans were detained Friday in South Korea for trying to send 1,600 plastic bottles filled with rice, miniature Bibles, $1 bills and USB sticks toward North Korea by sea, police said.
The Americans were apprehended on front-line Gwanghwa Island before throwing the bottles into the sea so they could float toward North Korean shores on the tides, two Gwanghwa police officers said. 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 found what is on the USB sticks.
The U.S. 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, a practice that was banned from 2021-2023 over concerns it could inflame tensions with the North.
North Korea has responded to previous balloon campaigns with fiery rhetoric and other shows of anger, and last year the country launched its own balloons across the border, dumping rubbish on various South Korean sites including the presidential compound.
In 2023, South Korea's Constitutional Court struck down a controversial law 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.
On June 14, police detained an activist for allegedly flying balloons toward North Korea from Gwanghwa Island.
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 U.S.-led diplomacy on North Korean denuclearization derailed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
39 minutes ago
- USA Today
I'm Oppenheimer's grandson. We can still go from crisis to conversation on Iran.
Dialogue alone won't solve the problem. But it's where every solution begins. It also allows us to talk about the hopeful side of nuclear science. So I'm proposing something unconventional. The war in Iran has been terrifying. It pushed the threat of nuclear weapons back to the forefront of global consciousness. And yet – somehow – we've made it through this conflict in better shape than many feared, assuming the ceasefire holds. We now have an unexpected opportunity to turn this narrow escape into something bigger: a chance to expand global peace and security. Like many, I have serious criticisms of how we got here. A nation that has never signed the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty, Israel, used its undeclared nuclear status as leverage to launch a war against a country, Iran, that has no nuclear weapons and has submitted to international inspections. This directly sabotaged promising diplomatic efforts between Iran and America. When the United States entered the conflict with a military strike June 21, Americans braced for another endless war in the Middle East. And yet, remarkably, we've arrived at a ceasefire. That outcome wasn't inevitable. It required restraint from Tehran and surprising restraint from Washington. Credit must be given where it's due: President Donald Trump played a central role in stopping the escalation, using his signature unconventional diplomacy. That success offers a model ‒ if we're willing to learn from it. Lesson 1: Stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons fuel Since the first atomic breakthrough, one truth has remained: Safety in the nuclear age requires cooperation ‒ even with adversaries. Nuclear science is not a secret that can be kept, it's a fact of nature. From J. Robert Oppenheimer onward, scientists knew the only real safeguard was shared control of enriched uranium that can be used for bombs. We need more cooperation to prevent nuclear proliferation ‒ not just in Iran, but everywhere. Gen. Wesley Clark: This is the moment for American leadership in Middle East. We can't miss it. Lesson 2: Strengthen the institutions that have kept us alive The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is more than a piece of paper. It is the backbone of the global nuclear order. It has slowed the spread of weapons, legitimized peaceful nuclear energy and built mechanisms for trust. The International Atomic Energy Agency ‒ through science and diplomacy, not force ‒ upholds this system. We must double down on supporting countries that respect these rules and hold accountable those, like Israel and North Korea, that operate outside them. The real nuclear threat before us The dangerous gamble to start a war in order to stop a single weapon from being developed must not become the global standard. Because the far greater danger isn't Iran or any one rogue nation ‒ it's a nuclear exchange between superpowers. That remains the true and growing risk, and it could even happen by accident. A false alarm, a cyberattack or a miscommunication could trigger an unstoppable chain reaction. Once missiles fly among the United States, Russia and China, no leader or even unconventional diplomacy can stop it. There won't be time. Opinion: Our nuclear weapons are much more powerful than Oppenheimer's atomic bomb So what can we do? We build on what has worked. Trump's success in brokering a ceasefire should now be expanded ‒ first to end the Gaza conflict, and then to revive stalled denuclearization dialogue. Trump has previously called for nuclear talks among America, China and Russia. That is exactly the right idea ‒ and this could be the moment. Charles Oppenheimer: I support President Trump's pursuit of nuclear diplomacy Some will call that impossible. They'll point to rising tensions, trade wars, proxy conflicts. They'll say the moment isn't right. But history teaches the opposite: It is precisely in moments of danger that real diplomacy must begin. Waiting for peace before negotiating peace is a contradiction. This is a time for bold action – of the Nobel Peace Prize variety – if done right. We are still living under a nuclear arms strategy called mutual assured destruction. Even its acronym ‒ MAD ‒ tells us how unsustainable it is. The threat is too vast, too fast and too complex for any one nation or leader to control. Most of us, as individuals, feel powerless in the face of such a system. But we're not without agency. Some people do have real influence, and that includes the leaders of the United States, China and Russia. They cannot be expected to make unilateral concessions, but they can be expected to sit down and talk. I'm not president. But I'm doing what I can ‒ using the name and ideas of my grandfather J. Robert Oppenheimer to push for a safer future. So I'm proposing something unconventional: an 'Oppenheimer Dinner,' inviting representatives from Washington, Beijing and Moscow to a private, off-the-record dialogue about how to reduce the risk of real nuclear war ‒ and discuss the positive side of nuclear energy. Dialogue alone won't solve the problem. But it's where every solution begins. It also allows us to talk about the hopeful side of nuclear science. The same technology that could destroy civilization can also power it, giving us clean energy, medical breakthroughs and global prosperity. It's up to us to choose which future we want ‒ and there is no time like the present. 'We can have each other to dinner. We ourselves, and with each other by our converse, can create not an architecture of global scope, but an immense, intricate network of intimacy, illumination, and understanding.' — J. Robert Oppenheimer, 1958 Charles Oppenheimer is the founder and co-executive director of the Oppenheimer Project. He is the grandson of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory during the Manhattan Project.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Thanks, Supreme Court! It's now my right to prevent my kid from learning about Trump.
Any attempt to teach my children that Trump exists and is president might suggest such behavior is acceptable, and that would infringe on my right to raise my child under the moral tenets of my faith. I have a deeply held religious conviction that, by divine precept, lying, bullying and paying $130,000 in hush money to an adult film star are all immoral acts. So it is with great thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court and its recent ruling allowing Maryland parents to opt their children out of any lessons that involve LGBTQ+ material that I announce the following: Attempts to teach my children anything about Donald Trump, including the unfortunate fact that he is president of the United States, place an unconstitutional burden on my First Amendment right to freely exercise my religion. In its June 27 ruling, the high court cited Wisconsin v. Yoder and noted, 'The Court recognized that parents have a right 'to direct the religious upbringing of their children' and that this right can be infringed by laws that pose 'a very real threat of undermining' the religious beliefs and practices that parents wish to instill in their children.' Supreme Court shows I can fight to keep kids from learning about Trump Well, I wish to instill in my children the belief that suggesting some Americans are 'radical left thugs that live like vermin' and describing a female vice president of the United States as 'mentally impaired' and 'a weak and foolish woman' are bad things unworthy of anyone, much less a commander in chief. So any attempt to teach my children that Trump exists and is president might suggest such behavior is acceptable, and that would infringe on my right to raise my children under the moral tenets of my faith. (My faith, in this case, has a relatively simple core belief that being a complete jerk virtually all the time is bad.) Opinion: I can't wait to get a Trump Mobile gold phone to pay respect to my MAGA king Alito clearly doesn't want schools teaching kids that Trump exists As Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his opinion regarding the use of LGBTQ+ books in schools, some 'Americans wish to present a different moral message to their children. And their ability to present that message is undermined when the exact opposite message is positively reinforced in the public school classroom at a very young age.' Exactly. I wish to present a moral message to my children that when a man is found liable for sexual abuse and has been heard saying things like 'I moved on her like a bitch' and 'she's now got the big phony tits and everything' and 'Grab 'em by the pussy,' that man is deemed loathsome by civil society and not voted into the office of the presidency. That wish is undermined by any book or teacher exposing my student to the fact that Trump is president. Supreme Court is protecting children from the tyranny of love Alito cited several books that were at issue in Maryland schools, including one called 'Love Violet,' which 'follows a young girl named Violet who has a crush on her female classmate, Mira. Mira makes Violet's 'heart skip' and 'thunde[r] like a hundred galloping horses.' Although Violet is initially too afraid to interact with Mira, the two end up exchanging gifts on Valentine's Day. Afterwards, the two girls are seen holding hands and 'galloping over snowy drifts to see what they might find. Together.'' While my religion would define such a story as 'sweet' and 'loving,' Alito and his fellow conservatives on the Supreme Court find it 'hostile' to parents' religious beliefs. Tell us: Is America's billionaire boom good for government, democracy? | Opinion Forum As Alito wrote, 'Like many books targeted at young children, the books are unmistakably normative. They are clearly designed to present certain values and beliefs as things to be celebrated and certain contrary values and beliefs as things to be rejected.' OK. By that same logic, any class discussion or history lesson involving Trump and his status as president has the potential to teach my children that it's normal to have a president who lies incessantly, demeans transgender people and routinely demonizes migrants. Any in-class acknowledgement of Trump as president would, in Alito's words, be "clearly designed to present certain values and beliefs as things to be celebrated and certain contrary values and beliefs as things to be rejected.' I will now object to any book or classroom mention of Donald Trump I simply will not stand idly by while a taxpayer-funded school indoctrinates my children into believing a fundamentally dishonest and unkind person like Trump has the moral character to be president of the United States. My faith has led me to teach them otherwise, and any suggestion that Trump's behavior is acceptable would undermine that faith. Opinion: As a teacher, Supreme Court siding with parents' religious freedom concerns me Elly Brinkley, a staff attorney for U.S. Free Expression Programs at the free-speech advocacy group PEN America, said in a statement following the Supreme Court ruling in the Maryland case: 'The decision will allow any parents to object to any subject, with the potential to sow chaos in schools, and impact students, parents, educators, authors, and publishers.' Amen to that. I object to the subject of Donald Trump. Let the chaos ensue. Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @ and on Facebook at
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
She helped Texas close a loophole preventing sexual assault survivors from getting justice. Why can't more states get it done?
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article contains discussion of sexual assault that may be distressing for some readers. Summer Willis looked down at her bloody hands and knees after crawling for 22 hours on her way to the Texas Capitol to advocate for a change in state sexual assault law. She had set out at 4 a.m. on that cold February day to crawl the length of the entire Austin Marathon, a melding of performance art and activism, but this was the most agonizing physical pain the mother of two had ever experienced. She made it an excruciating 13 miles. Exhausted, she looked across the street and realized she was standing directly across from the site where she said she was raped 10 years ago at a University of Texas at Austin fraternity party. Prosecutors say what happened to her would likely not legally have been considered sexual assault because of a state loophole: she accepted the drink she was handed at that party – which she believes was laced – before she was raped by another person. At issue was how Texas sexual assault law outlined lack of consent. It did not specifically include victims who have been voluntarily intoxicated, making their cases nearly impossible to prosecute. 'After 10 years, I finally gave myself permission to stand up,' Willis said, deciding to run the remainder of the marathon. 'I stood up and I said, I'm not going to finish this how I anticipated it, but I am going to finish it.' And she did. The long-standing loophole that prevented Willis and other sexual assault survivors from getting justice in court was closed with the passage of the Summer Willis Act, which Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed on June 20. The law expands the definition of consent and clearly outlines sexual assault to include cases in which a victim 'cannot consent because of intoxication or impairment by any substance.' 'I'll never get justice from this bill. It's not retroactive, but I know that every victim from the day of the signing … won't have to be told it doesn't count,' Willis said. Two years before she crawled to the Capitol, Willis decided to start running marathons – some with a mattress on her back – not to change laws, but to bolster her own healing after years of living with the long shadow of trauma the attack cast on her life. 'I was looking at my beautiful boys' faces, and I was like, 'I want to be the woman that I used to believe I could be for you guys, someone who's strong, and confident and whole.'' Her organization, Strength Through Strides, has now raised tens of thousands of dollars for sexual assault survivors, she says. 'I know that every victim from the day of the signing … won't have to be told it doesn't count.' Summer Willis Her success has captured attention, along with high-profile cases of survivors seeking justice. This month alone, the trial of music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, continues. Meanwhile, disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein and President Donald Trump have been contending with the legal fallout from sexual assault allegations. Trump has denied all claims. Advocates hope these stories will encourage survivors to come forward. But even if they do, many people still live in a state where rape statutes don't protect victims who were unable to consent after becoming voluntarily intoxicated. Experts say some form of the intoxication loophole still exists in more than 20 states. A 2022 analysis of sexual assault laws from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. found nearly half of those jurisdictions 'require that a victim must be involuntarily intoxicated to be considered incapacitated or impaired.' 'State laws have enshrined victim blaming in our legal system when it comes to sexual assault,' said Mollie Montague, director of state legislative affairs with the nation's largest anti-sexual violence group, RAINN. Policy change may require a cultural shift, she says. 'Changing these laws really forces us to confront long-held beliefs – and laws that do that are hard to pass,' Montague said. 'People fear changing the status quo, and right now the status quo is protecting predators.' It can take time, she says, citing New York, where lawmakers have been trying to pass legislation to close the state's intoxication loophole for at least six years. And it isn't always due to opposition to the policies themselves or lack of lawmaker support. Advocates in the state said they've seen sexual assault bills with bipartisan support die again and again simply because they were not called to a vote. But after the Minnesota Supreme Court overturned a felony rape conviction in 2021, citing that the victim had voluntarily consumed several shots of alcohol and a prescription narcotic pill before the alleged assault, outrage ensued and state lawmakers passed a new law within months. A group of lawmakers, including Texas state Rep. Ann Johnson, met Willis at the finish line. 'More than 30 years ago, I had somebody disclose to me that they were intoxicated at a fraternity party, taken to a space and sexually assaulted. It is something that I have carried with me,' Johnson told CNN. That personal story drove Johnson's decision to build a career working with assault survivors. As a former human trafficking prosecutor, she said she knows how difficult it can be to prosecute sexual assault cases, especially when alcohol is involved. Johnson said she and her colleagues with the state's Sexual Assault Survivors' Task Force have been workshopping legislation to close the intoxication loophole for at least the last six years, but each time it's been derailed, previously passing in the House but not the Senate. On that February day after the race, Willis 'was just physically devastated,' Johnson said. Ravenous, Willis snacked as the lawmakers talked to her about the legislation they had in the works and pitched her an idea. 'Would you be willing to let us name this the Summer Willis Act? Would you be willing to come back and testify to get it passed?' Johnson asked. Three months later, Willis was back at home in Houston, nursing a 102-degree fever and taking care of a 2-year-old and 4-year-old. The family was glued to the projector they set up specially for the night's entertainment: the last vote of the state's legislative session. 'He kept yelling at the projector, 'Talk about my mamma!'' Willis said of her older son. She had been telling and retelling the story of her rape to lawmakers, advocates and reporters over the past few months. 'I had to be willing to be the story,' Willis said. She anxiously waited to see if the bill, which now bore her name, would be called for a vote before the end of the night. With dozens of bills on the docket yet to be called, the hours ticked on. 'We're starting to realize, they're not getting through all of these. Will they choose ours?' Willis said. A text message from one senator's chief of staff came in, she said, saying, 'Prayers are needed right now.' When someone announced the session was ending for the night, Willis was in tears. 'And then they called our bill, when all hope was lost, when we already thought we lost,' Willis said. Texas Rep. Donna Howard authored the bill, which passed unanimously that night. 'When preparing for this legislative session, we knew we needed storytellers who could help thread the needle for lawmakers,' Howard told CNN in a statement. 'Summer was, in some ways, the missing piece to our puzzle.' Howard said Willis represents the thousands of survivors who have been turned away by law enforcement due to the state's previous consent laws. 'Our latest statistics show that 9% of survivors in Texas report their assault; of those, less than 3% will proceed to trial and even fewer will see their rapists behind bars. This will change after September 1,' she added. Republican state Sen. Angela Paxton, who carried the bill through the Senate, says the new law closes the gap that long allowed predators to escape accountability. 'Survivors will finally have the clarity and recognition in the law that their experiences are real, that what happened to them was criminal, and that our justice system will stand with them,' she told CNN in a statement. 'Prosecutors will be better equipped to hold offenders accountable, and potential perpetrators will know that these loopholes no longer exist.' In May, the state Senate passed a special resolution recognizing Willis for her advocacy on behalf of sexual assault survivors. When Willis heard advocates and lawmakers in New York were also trying to push through legislation to close their state's intoxication loophole, she booked a ticket. If people could see someone who took on the legislative machine and won, maybe they could do the same. Forty-eight hours later, and just weeks after the bill passed in the Texas Senate, Willis stood in the middle of New York City's Bryant Park as light rain misted over the busy professionals rushing by on their lunch breaks – and once again, she told the story of her rape. Her voice strained as she tried to speak over the din of the city in June, but she wasn't alone. Standing behind her were supporters from dozens of advocacy organizations, including Sky and Amanda Roberts, the brother and sister-in-law of Virginia Giuffre, a prominent sex abuse survivor of Jeffrey Epstein. Giuffre died by suicide in April. Giuffre's advocacy for survivors was an inspiration for Willis, who wore a dress with a butterfly pattern that day, a symbol that came to represent freedom for Giuffre. When the bill passed in Texas, Willis says one of the first calls she received was from Sky and Amanda. The couple brought their two young children to the gathering in Bryant Park. 'I think it's important to let them know who their aunt was and what she fought for, and how important – at whatever age – it is to fight for what's right,' Amanda said. 'My sister – if she could be here today, she would have,' Sky added. Advocates for all kinds of causes are vying for the attention of the same pool of lawmakers who hold the power to turn a hot-button issue into tangible policy change. Having a face attached to an issue can mean the difference between a bill getting called for a vote or collecting dust for another year. 'Will people pay attention to sexual assault if someone's not crawling, or running with a mattress…?' Summer Willis But it's important to consult survivors when shaping these laws, not just when they're needed to promote them, Christian Nunes, president of women's grassroots group National Organization for Women, told CNN. 'A lot of times we see gaps in bills because survivors, or those people with lived experience who the bill is meant for, are not included in shaping the conversation, or the shaping of the bill,' said Nunes, who worked as a trauma therapist for years. Advocates in New York were heavily involved in shaping the bill, which had broad bipartisan support, Emily Miles, executive director of New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, told CNN. But that's not always enough, she noted. The bill was not called for a vote by the deadline and died. Four months, six pairs of knee pads and one small media blitz after her crawl to the state Capitol, Willis is sitting in her home in Houston on a hot afternoon in late June. She's been on a victory lap since the governor signed the Summer Willis Act, smiling wide for photo ops and media interviews. She just has one interview left for the day before she takes a full month off. She needs a break. 'I don't think people realize how hard it was,' Willis says through tears. 'Everyone can think about the worst thing that ever happened to them, but are they willing to stand on the steps of the Capitol, or crawl for 22 hours or tell the 'Today' show about it?' 'It takes so much,' she says. Despite her victory in Texas, she's disheartened by what happened with the bill in New York. No one ran. No one bled. But advocates there shared their experiences, just as she had. Is it enough for assault survivors to simply tell their stories and ask for help? 'That's a great question. Will people pay attention to sexual assault if someone's not crawling, or running with a mattress or doing these crazy things? Do we as a society care enough?' Willis says. 'I don't know, because this is the way that I did it.' She's planning on using her downtime to take a five-year anniversary trip with her husband, Andrew. He's been there for every step. Andrew says he's proud of what his wife has accomplished, and she's still the same person he met years ago back in the Peace Corps. He recalls an orientation they attended in Mexico. When the leaders reviewed information about sexual assault, one of their colleagues ran out of the room, visibly shaken. Summer rushed out to comfort her. 'I remember hours later seeing Summer and that woman, and maybe three or four other women, who were all sitting together and sharing stories,' he says. 'This was years before she ever thought about running marathons.' 'I forgot about the Peace Corps thing,' Willis says, recounting the night she told those women her story of sexual assault, and in turn they shared their own – one of them for the very first time. She considers the question again: Is it enough just to share your story? It turns out, sometimes it is. If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you are not alone. Visit RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline for help. Call (4673), chat at or text 'HOPE' to 64673.
