South Korean police on Saturday stopped a planned launch of anti-North Korean leaflets across the tense border, sparking an angry protest from activists, witnesses said. A group of defectors from the North had said they would float 200,000 leaflets over the heavily militarised frontier by balloon on Saturday to protest Pyongyang's dire human rights record. Police set up road blocks on access routes to the planned launch site at Imjingak, and stopped a pickup truck loaded with the leaflets, towing it to a nearby police station.

The United States on Thursday called for the "immediate release" of a Korean-American tour operator sentenced in North Korea to 15 years of hard labor for "hostile acts" against the government. "We urge the DPRK authorities to grant Mr Bae amnesty," deputy acting State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told journalists, referring to jailed US citizen Pae Jun-Ho, who is known in the United States as Kenneth Bae. "We have concerns about the lack of transparency in this case," Ventrell said, adding that Washington was still seeking details of the charges filed against Bae.

North Korea has sentenced a US citizen to 15 years of prison labour for "hostile acts" against the communist regime, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said Thursday. Pae Jun-Ho, known in the United States as Kenneth Bae, was arrested in November as he entered the northeastern port city of Rason. "The Supreme Court sentenced him to 15 years of compulsory labour for this crime," KCNA said. lim-ckp/dr/jw

South Korea on Thursday offered North Korea formal talks to resolve the suspended operations at their joint Kaesong industrial zone, and warned of "grave action" if Pyongyang declines. "We officially propose talks between government authorities," Unification Ministry Spokesman Kim Hyung-Seok, adding that Pyongyang should reply to the offer by Friday. "If North Korea rejects these proposed official talks, we would have to take grave action," Kim said, without elaborating. ckp-gh/jw