Civic groups have blasted the government for banning them from bringing North Korean currency into the South for the purpose of sending the money back to the North with anti-communist leaflets.

The Abductees Family Union and Fighters for a Free North Korea said Wednesday that they will push forward with their plan to send next month leaflets containing North Korean five-thousand won bills to the communist state.

One of the heads of the groups, Choi Sung-yong, rejected the government’s argument that sending anti-communist leaflets to the North with North Korean bills attached to them is a violation of inter-Korean cooperation laws.

He said that the civic groups’ actions are not an act of cooperation and, as a result, should not be subject to such laws.

Choi said the groups are using the only means available to them to assist South Korean abductees and prisoners of war in North Korea, saying that the Seoul government has failed to effectively address the issue.

He said the groups are willing to sustain punishment for their actions, should the government pursue that option.