6 Americans Detained in South Korea for Attempting to Send Rice and Bibles to North Korea by Sea

Six American citizens were detained on Friday by South Korean police on Gwanghwa Island while attempting to send 1,600 plastic bottles containing rice, miniature Bibles, $1 bills, and USB sticks toward North Korea by sea. The group was stopped before they could launch the bottles, which they hoped would drift into the North on ocean tides.

Authorities say the Americans are being investigated for violating South Korea’s Safety and Disaster Management Law, though details about their identities remain undisclosed due to privacy regulations. Police also confirmed they have not yet examined the contents of the USB drives.

The U.S. Embassy in South Korea has not issued a public response.

For years, activists have tried to send materials into North Korea—via both sea and air—containing anti-regime content, religious materials, and South Korean pop culture. These activities, once banned from 2021 to 2023, have reignited under legal scrutiny after South Korea’s Constitutional Court overturned the ban, calling it an excessive limit on free speech.

However, the newly elected liberal government of President Lee Jae Myung is taking a firmer stance. While promoting peace talks with the North and halting propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts, Lee’s administration is seeking to curb citizen-led border campaigns through safety laws to reduce the risk of escalating tensions.

The arrests follow a similar incident on June 14, when another activist was detained for flying balloons toward North Korea from the same island.

Tensions between the two Koreas remain high. North Korea has previously responded to these campaigns with hostility and, in 2023, launched its own wave of trash-filled balloons into South Korea.

Despite President Lee’s efforts at reconciliation, it remains unclear whether North Korea will respond, having severed ties with the South and abandoned reunification goals in 2023.