Take stock of the 70-year flyer war between the two Koreas: The South Korean side uses "sugar-coated shells" a lot, and the North Korean side is good at psychological hints

Source: Global Times

June 25 this year marks the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, and although the ROK and the DPRK have long since truced, the smokeless war between the two koreas has never stopped in trying to "appease" the other people by distributing leaflets. Recently, the "leaflets" distributed by South Korean civil society organizations to the North Korean side have become a direct trigger for the tightening of relations between the two countries again, making the "leaflet war" that has been continuing between South Korea and the DPRK for the past 70 years become the focus again. South Korean media made a special report on this topic on the 21st, detailing the three stages and characteristics of the "leaflet war" between south koreas.

During the Korean War: 2.8 billion leaflets were distributed between The Two Koreas

According to South Korean media statistics, during the Korean War, South Korea and the "United Nations Army" distributed a total of 2.5 billion leaflets to the north, and they distributed an average of 2 million leaflets per week from the third day of the war (June 28, 1950), reaching a maximum of 20 million per week. North Korea and the Soviet Union did not show weakness, and successively distributed 300 million leaflets to the south.

At that time, most of the leaflets produced by the Korean camp were mainly "sugar-coated shells", such as "Come here to eat and wear warm", accompanied by pictures of soldiers with rich dishes in their hands, cigarettes in their mouths, and happy faces. At the same time, there are also many leaflets that stir up dissension between China and North Korea, such as "China specially selects useless weapons for use by North Korean soldiers." In contrast, leaflets produced by the North Korean camp highlighted the message that "victory is in sight on the North Korean side, and the enemy is about to surrender", such as "Busan and Jinhae are close at hand" (implying that the North Korean army will soon come to liberate these two southern cities) and "to cut down the enemy army and remove the roots, leaving no trouble behind" and other content, which easily make the ROK generals have the psychological hint that "this battle cannot be won". At the same time, the DPRK side also actively distributed leaflets with the contents of the "Security Certificate" to the "United Nations Army" barracks, which read in English that "as long as you surrender, you can ensure personal safety." It is reported that at that time, some "United Nations Army" officers and men who were surrounded by the DPRK army showed this "security certificate" leaflet when they surrendered, and were eventually spared their lives.

In the 1960s, the two Koreas began to "show off their wealth"

During this period, the contents of leaflets between the two koreas were mainly institutional propaganda and promoted the superiority of their respective systems. After the end of the Korean War until the mid-1970s, North Korea was generally richer than South Korea. At this time, the number of leaflets distributed by North Korea to South Korea was also overwhelming, focusing on the superiority of the propaganda system, such as "In North Korea, people do not spend money to go to the hospital" and "everyone lives a rich life", accompanied by daily photos of the happy life of the North Korean people. Sometimes, the flyers are also plastered with dollars to attract the attention of the South Korean people. Influenced by North Korean leaflets, there were not a few South Koreans who crossed the 38th Parallel during this period and defected to North Korea.

Since the late 1970s, as the South Korean economy has gradually entered an upward trajectory, the number of leaflets distributed to North Korea has begun to increase, and these leaflets have illustrated and illustrated seoul nightscapes, department stores, highways, etc., to highlight the rapid development of the Korean economy. It is worth mentioning that in the early 1980s, South Korean intelligence services also specially produced "swimsuit actress" flyers, hoping to use the "beauty plan" to prompt north Korean soldiers on the 38th line to defect to South Korea. The style of such leaflets is much the same, they are all photos of sexy actresses dressed naked, which reads "If you run to South Korea, you can marry a beautiful woman", "It takes only 5 minutes to fly, come to Korea, burn me with your enthusiasm", "Brave you are entitled to have me, please call me a lover in Seoul" and other provocative content.

In December 1991, the ROKs formally signed the "Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-Aggression, Exchanges and Cooperation between the ROKs," and decided that the two countries would no longer carry out smear propaganda that used leaflets, radios, and other means to slander each other. Since then, the frequency and scale of leaflets distributed by the two Koreas have decreased significantly. In 2000, the heads of state of the TWO Koreas held a historic summit, and since then the "leaflet war" between the two countries has come to an end.

In the 21st century, Korea changed its pattern

In 2004, the South Korean government officially suspended all official activities to distribute leaflets to North Korea. Soon after, however, South Korean non-governmental organizations composed of "defectors" became the vanguard of the "flyer war against the DPRK" and opened up a new model of "flyer war" -- using large balloons to send rice, instant noodles, Korean dramas and concert CDs, dollar bills and other "sugar-coated shells" to the DPRK, and did not forget to smear the DPRK government and leaders on the leaflets.

In 2008, after Lee Myung-bak came to power, he changed the "sunshine policy" implemented by the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun governments and launched a hard line toward the DPRK, and the number of leaflets distributed to the DPRK by "Defectors" non-governmental organizations began to increase dramatically. According to statistics, since 2008, the "Defectors" group has distributed a total of 19.24 million leaflets to North Korea on 94 occasions, of which 90% were concentrated during the administration of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye. In this context, the DPRK side also restarted the "flyer war" against South Korea, pointing the spearhead at the two presidents, Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, including many harsh sentences such as "old thief dog Myeongboku" and "anti-thief Park Geun-hye". After the South Korean government decided to deploy THAAD in 2016, a large number of leaflets suspected of being distributed by the North Korean government appeared in the center of Seoul, mostly saying "Deploying THAAD is a humiliating decision to succumb to the United States, and we must resolutely resist" and "Park Geun-hye, a war maniac who ignores public opinion". Beginning in 2017, leaflets distributed by the North Korean government have also targeted the United States, such as "Supreme Fuehrer Kim Jong-un has resolutely stated that he will use brave firepower to clean up the crazy old man of the United States." Some leaflets also feature cartoons of "Trump and Abe were horrified when they saw the giant missile."

Kim Dong-yeol, a professor at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, told South Korean media that after entering the 21st century, the North Korean people have become accustomed to South Korean leaflets. For those North Korean people who have a firm ideological concept, seeing leaflets that slander and smear the supreme leader of the DPRK will on the contrary cause a sharp increase in resistance and disgust in the contents of the leaflets, which will counterproductively.