Correction: a previous version of this article said the candlelight protests which outed South Korean President Park Geun-hye took place in October 2017, when in fact they took place in October 2016. It has been corrected to reflect that fact.

Inter-Korean relations are quickly unraveling: North Korea recently pledged to send roughly 12 million propaganda leaflets into the South using carrier balloons and declared inter-Korean relations “dead” over the weekend.

The looming leaflet launch is yet another retaliatory move from Pyongyang, which recently condemned Seoul for failing to stop defector-activists from sending anti-regime leaflets over the border.

Should it go ahead, it will stand to seriously ramp up tensions — which are already high following the North’s demolition of the inter-Korean joint liaison office in the border city of Kaesong last week.

If North Korea does send some 3000 balloons over the border, it would likely be the largest state-sponsored leaflet drop in recent history.

Even so, both North and South have a long history of using leaflets as information warfare.

North Korea has sent leaflets since the Korean War, often drawing on sympathies by depicting the horror of warfare and pointing out the South’s severe shortage of resources. The U.S. and South Korea also took part, loading capsule bombs that could carry up to 22,500 anti-North fliers at a time.

In recent years, NK News has documented several pro-North leaflets found in South Korea. Though it’s unclear whether or not they were directly sent under the direction of Pyongyang, chances are these leaflets came from North of the 38th parallel.

Here’s a roundup of what NK News has found:

June 2020: ‘Eternal crimes of Conservative Traitors’ 

This propaganda leaflet condemning conservative South Koreans was found on the beaches of Yeonpyeong-do island in June 2020, right near the inter-Korean Northern Limit Line (NLL). 

The leaflet urged for the “purge” of conservatives and condemned them as “traitors” who have committed “eternal crimes,” such as “the destruction of people’s lives” and “the interruption of inter-Korean relations.”

February 2018: Sports diplomacy

In hindsight, the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics marked the height of recent inter-Korean diplomacy, ushering in an era of high-profile handshakes and even higher hopes.

At the time, NK News spotted a flier in Mt. Bukhan near Seoul, which urged readers to “burn the Olympic light as the light of unification” and to “accomplish sovereign unification” without the implied interference of the United States.

The leaflet also welcomed visitors from Pyongyang, including cheerleaders, reporters from North Korea, members of North Korea’s Taekwondo team, and other artists.

The fliers state they’re from a South Korea-based civic group called “The Union for Sovereign National Unification,” though it’s possible Pyongyang sent the leaflets and simply didn’t want to take credit for it.

January 2018: President Trump “into the tomb”

Several leaflets found in Gugi-dong — a neighborhood in northern Seoul — called for economic cooperation and unification on the Korean peninsula.

Others were found in Gimpo City and announced the completion of North Korea’s nuclear force, as well as condemned President Donald Trump by accusing him of being “crazy for war” and calling President Moon Jae-in Trump’s “agent.” The leaflet depicted both Trump and Moon being stoned and clubbed to death.

Meanwhile, another leaflet reaffirmed North Korean support for the June 15 and October 4 inter-Korean joint declarations, which generally focused on economic cooperation. The flier promised that former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s “immortal achievements” will “shine in history.”

November 2017: “Shaggy dog of Trump”

Multiple inflammatory leaflets depicting South Korean President Moon Jae-in bowing down to the orders of U.S. President Donald Trump surfaced in Mt. Bukhan and in the northern Seoul neighborhood of Pyeongchang-dong.

One of the leaflets, which labeled Moon as a “mutt dog” or “shaggy dog,” depicted the South Korean president serving up a platter carrying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system and U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement to a bloodied Trump, who declares that he has no more cards to play against North Korea (Trump is laying on cards labeled “total destruction,” “preventive war,” “sanctions,” “decapitation,” as well as “fire” and “fury”). 

Another flier depicted Moon pulling a wagon labeled the “General Security of Military Information Agreement” (GSOMIA) with a power-hungry Abe gearing up for “re-invasion” sitting inside.

October 2017: Decapitated Trump & more

October 2017 marked a flurry of propaganda leaflet discoveries. Various fliers depicting U.S. President Donald Trump in gruesome states were found on Mt. Bukhan in northern Seoul, including a flier that shows Trump being decapitated with an axe and the words “crazy dog.”

Another flier showed Trump as a dog biting into a warhead, with the claim that he will annihilate all 25 million North Koreans at the horror of South Korean politicians.  

Propaganda leaflets found in central Seoul urged for the killing of “old crazy man Donald Trump” and depicted a missile flying into the White House as a solution for the North Korean state. Meanwhile, other leaflets mocked the relocation of U.S. troops to Pyeongtaek, claiming it was a sign of the American military’s decline.

March 2017: “Pro-Japanese puppets”

President Trump is seen kicking dogs named after South Korea’s acting president at the time, Hwang Kyo-ahn, as well as the national defense minister and foreign minister in a propaganda leaflet found in March 2017. The batch of leaflets, discovered in Seoul, also depict Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calling South Korean politicians “doomed bastards” and advocating for comfort women statues to be taken down.

February 2017: “Oversexed witch”

Propaganda fliers featuring sexually explicit photos of now-impeached South Korean President Park Geun-hye were found in central Seoul, with the text notably written in the South Korean dialect to target Seoulites in an act of information warfare. 

The leaflets played into rumors about Park’s love life that began surfacing in the 1970s, calling the President a “notorious woman of loose morals” and an “oversexed witch.”

In one illustration, Park is shown lying in bed with Choi Tae-min, the founder of the Church of Eternal Life and the father of the now-disgraced Choi Soon-sil. 

Additional leaflets found in Seoul show children hitting South Korean politicians with a fly swatter or children shouting the phrases “I hate the sounds of Yankee tanks” and “Get out, American bastards!”

January 2017: Dogged harassment

Fliers found on rooftops and near university campuses in central Seoul depicted North Korea as a dog crushing smaller dog-enemies with its sharp-clawed paw. Other fliers, which sang praises about Kim Jong Un, were also found in the area. 

The leaflets also seemed old or outdated, referring to former-President Park Geun-hye — who had already been impeached — as well as U.S. President Barack Obama, who had passed the baton to President Trump that month.

“Guys at North Korea’s propaganda department have their salaries to earn [and] such posters are regularly disseminated here in Seoul,” Fyodor Tertitskiy, a senior researcher at Seoul’s Kookmin University, told NK News at the time.

“[But these] posters are obsolete: Obama is no longer a person of power and neither is Park, by the way.”

November 2016: Executions ordered

Anti-South Korea and anti-U.S. propaganda leaflets found in Itaewon — a neighborhood known for its diverse immigrant population — called for the execution of a fang-toothed South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

An additional leaflet showed President Obama wearing a helmet and driving a tank labeled THAAD, which is carrying cartoon versions of prominent South Korean politicians.

Edited by Oliver Hotham