The bill to amend the "Aviation Safety Act" to block the distribution of leaflets to North Korea passed the National Assembly plenary session.
The Ministry of Unification said on the 3rd that the "Aviation Safety Act" was revised to ban the flight of unmanned free balloons in no-fly zones and that the distribution of leaflets to North Korea, which had blocked inter-Korean relations and threatened safety and peace in border areas, appears likely to stop.
Earlier, the National Assembly passed the Aviation Safety Act at the plenary session the previous day to ban the flight of unmanned free balloons in no-fly zones regardless of the weight of objects attached externally and to punish violations. It also expanded the scope of entities subject to flight rules to corporations, institutions, and organizations.
With the revision of the Aviation Safety Act, distributing leaflets to North Korea using unmanned free balloons has become impossible. Under the pre-revision regulations, if the weight of an object attached to the outside of an unmanned free balloon was less than 2 kg, it could fly in a no-fly zone without approval from the Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Previously, some groups made balloons so that the bundles of leaflets to North Korea weighed less than 2 kg and released them.
The Ministry of Unification said that the Lee Jae-myung administration has taken preemptive measures since its launch to ease military tensions and restore trust between the two Koreas, including blocking the distribution of leaflets to North Korea and halting loudspeaker broadcasts toward the North, and expressed hope that this revision of the Aviation Safety Act will support the government's efforts.