Six Americans were detained in South Korea for going against the country's crackdown on cross-border propaganda, which has caused tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
On Friday, June 27, the US citizens got in trouble with the authorities as they were trying to send 1,600 plastic bottles filled with rice, miniatures Bibles, and $1 bills toward North Korea by sea.
According to Gwanghwa police officers, the group were apprehended on front-line Gwanghwa Island before they could throw the bottles into the sea.
The American citizens were under investigation on allegations that they violated the law on the management of safety and disasters.
For years, activists have tried to find ways to send items into North Korea, including anti-regime propaganda leaflets and USB thumb drives featuring South Korean dramas and songs.
These moves were banned from 2021 to 2023 over concerns that it could fuel tensions with the North.
North Korea has responded angrily to previous balloon campaigns, and last year the country launched its own balloons across the border, dumping trash on various South Korean sites.
In 2023, South Korea's Constitutional Court struck down a controversial law that criminalised the sending of leaflets and other items to North Korea.
