A high-ranking South Korean government official plans to visit areas along the heavily-fortified border this week to monitor the level of readiness to prevent a possible resumption of anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns in the South. Inter-Korean tensions have escalated due to the anti-North Korean leaflets that are flown over the border. 

Vice Unification Minister Suh Ho will travel to Ganghwa County in Incheon on Tuesday and Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province on Thursday, ministry Spokesman Yoh Sang-key said in a regular media briefing on Monday. 

The vice minister will meet with residents in the regions to hear their concerns about propaganda-leaflet activities and also check the readiness levels of the police and Coast Guard to prevent the anti-North Korean leaflets from being flown across the border.  

The spokesman said Suh’s visits reflect the government’s stance that it will deal sternly with the cross-border dissemination of items that heighten inter-Korean tensions and pose a threat to the lives and safety of border area residents. 

Earlier, some North Korean defector groups in South Korea announced plans to fly propaganda leaflets across the border on June 25th, which marks the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War.