A drone that purportedly crashed in Pyongyang and that North Korea alleges originated with South Korea’s military, shown Oct. 13, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff denied allegations that the military scattered anti-communist propaganda leaflets in North Korea to prompt a reaction from Pyongyang, according to a spokesman Thursday.
It was “not true” that the South Korean military carried out activities “to induce provocations from the enemy” that were intended to warrant a counter response from Seoul, South Korean army Col. Lee Sung-jun, a Joint Chiefs spokesman, said Thursday at a press conference in Seoul.
South Korean lawmakers from the opposition Democratic Party have accused former President Yoon Suk Yeol of attempting to justify his abrupt martial law declaration last month by directing the military and intelligence agencies to provoke North Korea.
North Korea alleged the South sent military drones north of the border to distribute propaganda leaflets in October. One of these drones crashed and was recovered Oct. 13 in Pyongyang, North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency reported six days later.
If South Korea wanted to instigate military action by the North, it would have done so after Pyongyang destroyed sections of inter-Korean roads and railways using explosives, according to Lee.
On Oct. 15, North Korea in a symbolic gesture cut ties with Seoul by destroying its unused roads and railway lines near the border dividing the Korean Peninsula. After debris flew south of the border, South Korea’s military responded by firing warning shots on its side of the border, according to the South Korean Ministry of National Defense at the time.
South Korean troops would have fired across the border if Seoul wanted to entice Pyongyang to take military action, Lee said Thursday.
“Our military is carrying out activities to protect the people and to protect lives and safety, not to induce provocation from the enemy,” Lee said.
Rep. Boo Seung-chan of the Democratic Party on Tuesday said he had information from an unnamed source that the South’s military had distributed anti-communist propaganda leaflets in the North to provoke the communist regime.
Boo and his office investigated the matter and have yet to receive information from the National Defense Ministry and the Joint Chiefs, he said during a radio interview on the Seoul Broadcasting System.
Yoon was impeached Dec. 14 by the National Assembly after his short-lived attempt to declare martial law Dec. 3, citing “anti-state forces” that he alleged were stalling budget bills and campaigning to impeach his appointees.
Choi Sang-mok, the finance minister and deputy prime minister, is serving as acting president while the case against Yoon is prosecuted in the Constitutional Court. Choi is the second interim president, appointed after the National Assembly also impeached Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who replaced Yoon.
The Seoul Western District Court on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Yoon on charges that he abused his authority and instigated an insurrection.
Police and investigators from South Korea’s Corruption Investigation Office tried Friday morning to arrest Yoon at his presidential residence in Seoul. The arrest was called off at around 1:30 p.m., due to “safety concerns” with the president’s security detail and military personnel, who blocked investigators from accessing the residential compound, according to a news release from the investigation office that day.
The unsuccessful attempt resulted in several altercations, CNN reported, citing the investigation office.
