태영호 국회의원(국민의힘 강남갑)이 전 세계 주요 인사들에게 「대북전단살포금지법」의 위법·부당성을 알렸다. 태영호 의원은 영문 서신을 통해「대북전단살포금지법」에 대한 근본적 문제점 3가지를 구체적으로 밝히며 외국 주요 인사들의 적극적 관심과 호응을 유도했다.

태영호 의원이 서한에 밝힌「대북전단살포금지법」의 근본적 문제점은 첫째, 이 법은 김정은 독재 정권 하에 있는 북한 주민의 고립을 더욱 가중 시킨다는 것이다. 또한 이 법은 헌법에 보장된 표현의 자유를 말살하고 있고, 김정은이 더 대담하게 본인의 반민주적인 의도를 스스럼없이 요구할 수 있게 한다는 것이다.

한편 태영호 의원의 서한은 미국 대다수의 상원의원과 Andy Kim, Young Kim, Marilyn Strickland 등 한국계 하원의원, 미국, 일본, 독일, 프랑스, 영국 등 한국 주재 주요 외국 대사관, Human Rights Watch, Defense Forum Foundation, HRNK, NDI, CSIS 등의 단체에 보내졌다.

태영호 의원은 “「대북전단살포금지법」은 국제사회에도 반민주적, 반인권적이라 평하고 있는 명백히 잘못된 법이다”며, “앞으로도 「대북전단살포금지법」의 위법 부당성을 전 세계에 알리고, 북한 주민의 알 권리 보장하며 우리 국민의 표현의 자유를 수호하기 위해 대한민국의 국회의원으로서 책무를 다 하겠다.”고 밝혔다.

아래는 태영호 의원의 서신 전문이다.

I'm Tae Yongho, Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. I had been North Korean deputy Ambassador in London before I defected to South Korea in summer of 2016.

I am writing this letter with my utmost sincerity and out of concern regarding the law (the Amendment of the North-South Relations Development Law ) passed on December 14, 2020, which will criminalize the activity to send leaflets, USB sticks, Bible verses, and even money into North Korea via balloons near DMZ or by smuggling through North Korea-China border.

Under the legislation which was passed in a partisan vote, South Koreans could face fines of up to $27,000 (30 million South Korean won) or up to three years in prison for violating the law.

Before the vote, I said the law was“aimed at joining hands with Kim Jong-un and leaving North Korean residents enslaved for good” in my 10 hours-long filibuster since North Korea's People's Assembly passed the law on 'rejecting reactionary ideology and culture on December 4. 2020.

The law has three fundamental problems.

Firstly, the legislation could deepen the brutal isolation imposed on millions of North Koreans by the dictatorship in Pyongyang.

The law will remove legal basis remains in South Korea for organizations to engage in activities aimed at promoting human rights in North Korea by inflow of information.

The amendment to ban items and activities reads as follows:

The term "leaflets, etc" means leaflets, goods (including promotional and propaganda materials, print materials and auxiliary storage devices), money or other property interests.

The term "dissemination" means the act of distributing to unspecified multiple persons in North Korea or moving to North Korea leaflets, etc (including simply moving leaflets, etc. via a third country. Herein after the same shall apply) for the purpose of propaganda and gift, etc. without approval in accordance with article 13 or article 20 of the inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act.

As you can read the amendment, the law give full authority to the Government to stop any activity related to send banned items even through North Korea-China border even though the Government insists that the law only limits the ballooning near DMZ.

Secondly, the law will repress freedom of expression, a fundamental right protected by the Constitution of South Korea.

The only reason the government and the ruling party cited in support of this law was that the activities of ballooning near DMZ endanger "the safety of residents on the border."

They used North Korea’s firing at leaflet balloons in 2014 as an example to support their claim. However, to get the fact straight, no one in South Korea has been injured in the past fifteen years while engaging in leaflet-sending activities.

The most common danger reported along the border has been North Koreans firing into the South to prevent a soldier from defecting or simply harassing South Korean border troops.

There is strong conception in the current Government that the freedom of expression can be easily limited for the sake of public interest. If the Government wants to limit the freedom of expression, it should prove clearly that the ballooning the leaflets endanger directly the life and security of the people along DMZ.

The law enacted are definitely far from the standard of international human rights and it can open dangerous precedents to silence the basic rights of the people.

Thirdly, the law will likely embolden the Kim Jong-un regime to make more anti-democratic demands.

North Korea’s leaders are adamantly opposed to the balloons carrying leaflets and other information.

Six months ago, Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong gave a furious denunciation of South Korea’s inability to halt civilian balloon leafleting and demanded to make a ‘law to ban the activity.’

Just hours after Kim Yo-jong issued her tirade against the leaflet balloons, the South Korean government responded that it would take immediate action to prohibit the sending of fliers via balloon and even enact the law to ban it.

The South Korean Government immediately stopped the ballooning by relying on current policing law.

But the real risk for the South Korean government was that by responding so quickly to the denunciation from Kim Yo-jong, it gave Seoul the appearance of being overly eager to accede to Pyongyang’s demands. Such a response weakened South Korea’s ability to negotiate with the North.

The quick capitulation by the South only encouraged Kim Yo-jong to destroy the large building in Kaesong built by the South Korean government.

There is no assurance that even with the silencing of freedom of expression in banning balloons that the Kim Jong-un regime will take any action to improve inter-Korean relations.

The peace on Koean peninsula between North and South can only be achieved by reducing the hostility sentiments of North Korean people by inflow of information and culture of South Korea.

So we need your attention and support to protect the democratic freedoms of people on both sides of the Korean peninsula.

I sincerely hope that you will join me in this endeavor.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Tae Yongho

Member of National Assembly. Republic of Korea