Seoul, Sep 5: A North Korean defectors' group said on Monday that it has sent big balloons carrying Covid-19 pain relievers and face masks to the reclusive country.

The group, Fighters for a Free North Korea, said 20 plastic balloons were released from Ganghwa Island in Incheon, around 30 km west of Seoul, to North Korea on Sunday, with 50,000 painkiller pills, 30,000 vitamin C tablets and 20,000 masks, reports Yonhap News Agency.

In photos released by the civic group, the balloons were also carrying banners showing the images of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his younger sister Kim Yo-jong, along with messages denouncing the regime's claim that the group's leaflets were responsible for the Covid-19 outbreaks in North Korea. Canada: 10 Killed, 15 Injured After Stabbings at Multiple Locations in Saskatchewan.

The defectors' group has sent balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets and face masks to North Korea on several occasions this year while the North claimed that "alien" things found in a border area were responsible for the country's first Covid-19 outbreak, apparently referring to the balloons. Rishi Sunak vs Liz Truss: Who Will Be the Next UK PM? Britain To Find Out Boris Johnson’s Successor Today.

"North Korea publicizes that it has overcome Covid-19, but it's not true and the country still suffers from a shortage of medicine," the group's head Park Sang-hak said, accusing the Kims of overlooking the pandemic in the country.

Other civic groups and residents of border areas in South Korea, meanwhile, filed a complaint against the defectors' group with the police last month on charges of violating the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act that prohibits the sending of leaflets to North Korea.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 05, 2022 10:49 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).