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| ▲ Kim Byung-kee (C), acting leader and floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party, attends a meeting of the party's Supreme Council at the National Assembly in Seoul on July 9, 2025. (Yonhap) |
ruling party-leaflets
Ruling party aims to put bill banning anti-Pyongyang leaflets to vote in July
By Yi Wonju
SEOUL, July 9 (Yonhap) -- The ruling Democratic Party (DP) said Wednesday it aims to put a revised bill banning anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns to a vote during this month's parliamentary session.
The move comes as President Lee Jae Myung has vowed to suspend anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns and loudspeaker broadcasts against North Korea.
"We aim to pass it during the July parliamentary session if possible," Rep. Moon Jin-seok, the DP's senior deputy floor leader in charge of floor management, told reporters at the National Assembly.
He added that the DP, which holds a majority at the National Assembly, is considering designating it as a fast-track bill as the revision is expected to face opposition at the foreign affairs and unification committee, which is chaired by the main opposition People Power Party.
The party also plans to deal with as a package provisions related to the cumulative voting system, which were left out of the Commercial Act amendment that passed the Assembly last month, along with the issue of easing the breach of trust law -- a move requested by the business community.
Moon also reaffirmed the DP's plan to complete prosecution reform within three months.
The Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act was revised and went into effect in March 2021 to prohibit the launching of anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border, with violators subject to a maximum prison term of three years or a fine of 30 million won (US$22,172).
In 2023, the Constitutional Court ruled the ban as unconstitutional, saying it excessively restricts the right to freedom of expression. The DP is now seeking to push a revised bill that addresses the court's concerns while maintaining the ban.
In South Korea, North Korean defector groups have long sent balloons carrying leaflets over the border in what they say is an effort to free North Korean people from the tyrannical North Korean regime. The campaigns have been a recurring source of conflict between South and North Korea.
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