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."

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Furthermore, Smith said he will call upon the U.S. Department of State to critically reevaluate the Republic of Korea's commitment to democratic values in its annual human rights report, as well as in its report on international religious freedom in the event of the bill being passed, adding this may put South Korea on a watch list.

According to Rep. Ji Seong-ho of the main opposition People Power Party, he had a State Department-organized meeting in Washington, D.C., last week, which also included Sam Brownback, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom; Morse Tan, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice; and senior officials from the State Department among the participants.

During the meeting, Ji, a North Korean defector-turned-politician, explained the unconstitutional factors of the bill to the Americans and they voiced concern over it, according to the lawmaker.

In addition, Senator Chris Coons, a close aide to President-elect Joe Biden, also said he will explain the problems of the bill to the transition team after a meeting with Ji, the lawmaker noted.

Earlier this month, New York-based Human Rights Watch also accused the anti-leaflet bill of violating South Koreans' rights to freedom of expression and making engaging in humanitarianism and human rights activism a criminal offense.

The Moon Jae-in administration has been under fire for putting diplomacy and engagement with the North before human rights, thereby undermining the North Korea-focused human rights campaigns. In fact, critics are denouncing the legislative measure as a "disgraceful submission" to Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader's sister who strongly criticized the South Korean government over the propaganda leaflet campaigns in June.

"The law banning the sending of propaganda leaflets to the North could be a thorny issue between the South and the U.S., given that the incoming Biden administration's foreign policy centers on democratic values," said Shin Beom-chul, a director of the Center for Diplomacy and Security at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy.

The analyst said while seeking to denuclearize the North through dialogue, the Biden team is also expected to address human rights issues in the North, which it believes could help resolve the nuclear issue.

"In that sense, after the inauguration of the Biden administration, the U.S. government is expected to want the South Korean government to jointly address the matter and it could sow the seeds of conflict between the two countries," he said.

In response to a series of criticisms and concerns linked to the law, a unification ministry official said, also on Monday, it was the minimum action to protect residents in border regions. The distribution of leaflets has long been a major source of tension between the two Koreas and has led to exchanges of fire in the past.