The Yoon Suk Yeol administration made the decision to resume anti-North Korea leaflet operations a full year before declaring a state of emergency on December 3, according to recent findings.
Rep. Choo Mi-ae of the Democratic Party, a member of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, reported that the Ministry of National Defense confirmed this after investigating officials from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Military Psychological Operations Command.
The lawmaker’s office revealed that on October 12, 2023, the presidential office convened the 34th National Security Council (NSC) standing committee meeting to assess the September 19 military agreement and discuss response strategies.
Key attendees included then-Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, Unification Minister Kim Young-ho, and National Intelligence Service Director Kim Kyu-hyun. While the meeting’s full contents remain classified as presidential records, sources indicate that the decision to restart leaflet operations was made during this session.
This move came on the heels of the Constitutional Court’s ruling that deemed the Anti-North Korean Leaflet Ban Law unconstitutional.
On November 8, 2023, the former defense minister verbally ordered the military to resume leaflet operations, with the directive flowing down from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Military Psychological Operations Command.
October 2023 is a critical timeframe identified by Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-seok’s insurrection investigation as the period when former President Yoon began actively preparing for a state of emergency. This coincided with the appointment of military brass implicated in the emergency plans, including former Army Chief of Staff Park An-su, who was tapped as the emergency operations commander.
Reports indicate that the Military Psychological Operations Command executed 17 leaflet drops between February 18 and November 15, 2024, targeting 35 locations including major North Korean cities like Pyongyang and Wonsan, as well as military installations.
Operational control and approvals were managed via secure communications, with units reportedly purging related records during monthly security checks.
Notably, the Joint Chiefs of Staff allegedly issued directives to maintain zero documentation of the leaflet operations. The command structure for these missions included the Psychological Operations Command chief, the Joint Chiefs’ Operations Planning director, the Joint Operations Headquarters commander, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In response, North Korea began launching balloons laden with waste and refuse towards the South in May of last year, citing the leaflet drops as provocation. Former President Yoon leveraged this to justify fully suspending the September 19 military agreement and escalating pressure on Pyongyang, including the resumption of live-fire drills.
The Defense Special Investigation Headquarters is now set to probe the circumstances surrounding the leaflet operation’s revival and its potential links to the state of emergency declaration, based on the Defense Ministry’s findings.