Don't Miss

Police look into anti-Park leaflets

February 27, 2015

By Kim Se-jeong

Police have launched an investigation into who is responsible for thousands of leaflets critical of President Park Geun-hye which were distributed on busy streets nationwide this week.

People walk past a leaflet that alleges a possible link between President Park Geun-hye and the National Intelligence Service’s meddling in the 2012 presidential election near Sinchon Station in Seoul, Friday. (Yonhap)

The leaflets were handed out in Seoul, Daegu, Busan and other cities. Police suspect the leaflets were distributed by activists who have organized rallies against Park.

On Thursday, police said they collected about 500 fliers near Gangnam Subway Station in southern Seoul.

One of the fliers criticized Park over the government’s welfare policies for the elderly.

“All elderly people deserve a bigger government subsidy,” the flier said, criticizing Park for failing to fulfill her campaign pledge to double subsidies for the elderly. Another flier demanded that school tuition be halved.

On Wednesday, when Park started her third year in office, anti-Park leaflets were found near Sinchon Station in western Seoul and Gyeongbok Palace near Cheong Wa Dae.

“The National Intelligence Service was found to have attempted to manipulate the presidential election. What would you do President Park?” one leaflet reads. Another criticized the government’s recent decision to increase the price of tobacco. “The working class feels hopeless after the cigarette price hike.”

In Daegu, where Park enjoys high approval ratings, some people distributed similar fliers just outside a regional office of the ruling Saenuri Party on Feb. 16.

On Feb. 12, the Busan police detained a man surnamed Yoon, 45, who distributed fliers depicting the President in a kimono, a traditional Japanese outfit. He is now facing a slander charge.

Critics say police should stop the investigation because punishing those responsible would be a violation of their freedom of expression.

The state-run National Human Rights Commission recently backed anti-North Korea groups sending leaflets across the Korean border, saying their activities should be protected under freedom of speech.

The agency, however, has taken no position on the liberal group’s distribution of anti-Park leaflets.