Ballons over North Korea spread truth into hermit kingdom

CNN:

Park Sang Hak and his family jammed 150,000 sheets of paper, dollar bills, DVDs and tiny AM/FM radios inside bags attached to giant inflatable helium balloons.

They launched them into the sky where they floated 200 km (124 miles) across the border to North Korea.

The message: Kim Jong Il is lying to you.

Renewed worldwide pressure on Pyongyang has given urgency to North Korean defectors living in Seoul who hope to reach North Koreans.

The balloons are the weapons in breaking Kim Jong Il's spell, say the Fighters for Free North Korea. The group, made up primarily of North Korean defectors, says if North Korea can't get any messages from the outside world, then outside world must deliver those messages in.

How? The giant helium balloons carrying the garbage bags of propaganda, which can fly 200 kilometers over the border, straight into the heart of Pyongyang.

It's the heart of Kim Jong Il's regime that these defectors hope to strike, by destroying the illusion it has built for its citizens.

"My brothers are still living there," said Kwon Young-Hee, who defected to Korea a decade ago. "I will be happy if they can come after reading these messages. North Koreans know nothing about Kim Jong Il except for his power as general and chief of the country. We want them to know the truth."

In North Korea, all public discourse, from media to education, is controlled by the military regime. A little radio, says North Korean defector Park Sang-hak, is a big weapon.

"I'm sending this off with the hope of reaching my people, who I left behind," said Park, as he watched the balloons lift into the sky heading northward. "If they get these, I hope they will be able to reflect on the true meaning of freedom.

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I think the balloons are probably more likely to be effective than loud speakers on the border. While it is probably dangerous to possess the radios, they are small enough to conceal. They could mean a real problem for the North Korean police state.