Letters calling the sinking of the Cheonan a South Korean fabrication have been sent to South Korean companies and organizations over the last few days.
According to South Korea’s National Policy Agency, four South Korean companies received letters presumed to be from North Korea on the 29th and 30th by fax. Three of the companies are located in Seoul, and one is in Incheon.
A marine products importer based in Jung-gu, Busan received the same letter on the 2nd. The president of the company, Mr. Park, found the letter on the fax machine in his office and alerted the police. Another marine product importer in Saha-gu, Busan also received the letter today.
The receiving companies had all previously done business with North Korea through the National Economic Cooperation Federation in Beijing, from which the letter appears to have been faxed.
The five-page letter entitled “Public Letter to the South Chosun People” apparently originated from the central committee of the Fatherland Reunification and Democracy Front, which is an espionage organization rooted in “united front” tactics.
Alongside claiming that the Cheonan incident was fabricated by South Korea, the letter also says that voting for the ruling Grand National Party on June 2nd is the same as inciting a war, and asserts raising tensions is deleterious to the national economy.
According to the police, others have received another form of the letter entitled, “Informing the South Korean Brethren,” supposedly sent by the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation.
Meanwhile, the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency has launched an investigation into a leaflet, “The Truth of the Cheonan,” which circulated on a natural sciences college campus of the Sungkyunkwan University in Suwon on the 31st of May.
This leaflet contains rumors circulating on the blogs of a portal site: “Are the scribbles on the torpedo decisive evidence?” for example. These leaflets were reportedly found in apartment complexes in Seoul.
The police are investigating which organization or organizations have been disseminating the leaflets.
