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| Police install a checkpoint near the inter-Korean border in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday, to prevent access by people who send anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets across the border. / Yonhap |
By Jun Ji-hye
The Gyeonggi Province Government designated four cities and one county bordering North Korea as "danger zones," Wednesday, to stop North Korean defectors and activists from sending anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets across the border.
In an administrative order, the provincial government placed the cities of Pocheon, Paju, Gimpo and Goyang as well as Yeoncheon County off-limits to senders of anti-Pyongyang leaflets.
The order will be valid until Nov. 30, it said.
This is the first time that the South has designated such zones in relation to the sending of the leaflets.
The order came a day after North Korea blew up the inter-Korean liaison office in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, following through on an earlier threat to do so.
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, threatened hostilities including military action in a statement made June 13, denouncing the campaign by the North Korean defectors and activists who send the propaganda leaflets across the border attached to balloons.
A Gyeonggi Province official said the administrative order was issued to protect the lives and safety of local residents, warning that the local government would press charges against anyone violating the order that forbids leaflet senders from entering the zones.
The administrative order is based on the Law for Disaster and Safety Management.
"We took the measure because the concerns and fears of residents in the border areas have been growing following the demolition of the inter-Korean liaison office," the official said.
On June 12, Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung posted on Facebook that the sending of the anti-Pyongyang leaflets was heightening cross-border tension and could cause a military incident between the two Koreas.
"Such an act, which threatens the lives and safety of provincial residents, is unacceptable. We will mobilize all possible administrative capabilities to preemptively block any attempts to launch the leaflets," Lee wrote.
