Roughly 40 South Korean riot police officers “rushed” to an island village on the inter-Korean border to quell “shouting and shoving matches” that erupted after South Korean villagers tried to block activists from sending care packages to North Korea via plastic bottles released into the sea, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Monday.
A physical altercation broke out on Monday between a group of seven anti-Pyongyang activists and local residents in the South Korean village of Samsanmyeon on the northwestern island of Ganghwa. The villagers blocked the only path to the local beach, preventing the activists from accessing the shore so that they could release packages intended for North Koreans into the Yellow Sea. Some 40 riot police officers rushed to the scene after the standoff between the two parties devolved into “shouting and shoving matches.”
According to the report, the activists – most of whom were North Korean defectors – had arrived in two vehicles containing over 100 plastic bottles, each packed with one kilogram of rice (about two pounds) and a sanitary mask. The group planned to release the bottles into the Yellow Sea in the hopes that they would reach North Koreans in need of the basic supplies.
The head of the local village, Kim Yun-tae, told the SCMP that although the activists seem well-meaning, plastic bottles from previous care package releases have often failed to reach the North Korean shore. Instead, Kim explains, the bottles wash back up on the South Korean shore, polluting local fish farms and creating unwanted trash accumulations on the beach.
“I understand very well the activists’ philanthropic intentions and we have no problems with aiding North Koreans, but this is not a right method to do so,” Kim said.
According to the report, the activists on Monday assured authorities that their care packages did not include any anti-Pyongyang leaflets, which have caused controversy in the past and especially in recent days between the North and South.
For years, activists in South Korea, including many North Korean defectors, have released gas-filled balloons carrying informational leaflets intended to reach North Korea. The leaflets are printed with information about the world outside of the communist regime, and some leaflets have been critical of North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong-un. On Tuesday, North Korea threatened to cut off all lines of communication with the South over the leaflets.
“We are scared we could be caught in the middle if the North retaliates by firing,” Kim Yun-tae said on Monday, explaining why the local villagers were so adamant in blocking the activists from releasing the humanitarian aid into the sea.
Kim Yun-tae referred to a 2010 incident in which North Korea fired artillery shells upon the South Korean border islands of Yeonpyeong killing four South Koreans, two soldiers and two civilians. According to the report, the deadly attack was an act of retaliation against the South, which had been conducting a firing drill near the western Yellow Sea border at the time. The Yeonpyeong islands are located just a short distance from Ganghwa Island, site of Monday’s village standoff.
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