A high-profile defector and human rights activist said he launched balloons carrying tens of thousands of masks and other COVID-19 aid toward North Korea on Sunday, announcing that his organization will suspend anti-regime leafleting as it seeks to provide medical assistance during the DPRK’s virus outbreak.

But Seoul’s unification ministry told NK News that the balloon launch by Park Sang-hak and Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK) appears to violate a 2020 South Korean law banning the dissemination of leaflets and other items to North Korea.

In a statement, Park told NK Newson Tuesday that his organization launched