For months now, South Korea tried to stamp out North Korean defector groups’ activist work in an attempt to appease the North. Now, President Moon Jae-in’s reputation as a human rights lawyer with a squeaky-clean image may be at stake — especially as the DPRK continues to recede from diplomatic talks.

Earlier this summer, North Korea blew up the $8.6 millioninter-Korean joint liaison office on June 16 — a move that, according to its state media, was provoked by defector-activist groups’ routine balloon launches sending informational leaflets over the border. Since then, local governments on the South Korean side