South Korean authorities on Friday apprehended six American nationals who were attempting to send plastic bottles filled with rice and Bibles to North Korea, according to the leader of the investigation team.
Local police say the group was intercepted at 1:03 a.m. attempting to send thousands of plastic bottles containing rice, one-dollar bills, and Bibles into the ocean near Ganghwa Island.
Since the Americans did not speak Korean, an interpreter was provided for them, and questioning has since begun, the police official stated.
Ganghwa Island, situated northwest of Seoul, is among the closest South Korean territories to North Korea. Some areas of the adjacent sea are 10 kilometres (six miles) from the maritime boundary between the two nations.
The island has historically been a favoured location for various non-profit organisations and anti-North Korean groups that launch plastic bottles filled with rice and USB drives with K-pop and South Korean dramas.
Last November, the area was designated as a danger zone, along with other border regions where activists release balloons carrying leaflets. At that time, the government indicated that the North could see such actions as provocative.
Last year, the two Koreas engaged in a reciprocal propaganda conflict, with the North dispatching thousands of trash-filled balloons southward as retaliation for propaganda balloons sent by South Korean activists.
In response, Seoul resumed its border loudspeaker broadcasts, which featured K-pop music and international news, while North Korea began transmitting strange, disturbing sounds along the border, creating significant annoyance for South Korean residents in the region.
South Korea’s newly inaugurated President Lee Jae Myung has pledged a more peace-oriented approach towards Pyongyang and has stopped the loudspeaker broadcasts, to which North Korea responded by ceasing their broadcasts the following day.
