▲ Alliance for the Promotion of North Korean Democracy launching the balloons from Kanghwa Island at 6PM on October 22nd (©APNKD)

At 6PM last night, a coalition of North Korean human rights groups finally launched 120,000 anti-Kim regime leaflets from the vicinity of Kanghwa History Museum on Kanghwa Island, off the coast of Incheon.

The coalition, Alliance for the Promotion of North Korean Democracy (APNKD), was forced to move the launch site after the South Korean security forces blocked access to the planned launch site at Imjingak earlier in the day.

One member of APNKD, which is led by Free North Korea Radio, NK People’s Liberation Front and Fighters For Free North Korea, told Daily NK following the launch, “The police and military authorities stopped us launching the balloons, so we formed three teams and scattered; two teams distracted the police and military while the third launched the balloons.”

APNKD subsequently posted images of the launch on the Free North Korea Radio homepage, saying, “At precisely 6PM on the 22nd, approximately ten people distributed 120,000 leaflets from outside Kanghwa History Museum in Hajeom, Kanghwa County, Incheon Metropolitan City.”