South Korean activist Park Sang-hak said Tuesday he has launched several helium balloons containing anti-Pyongyang material into North Korea. File Photo by Yonhap

SEOUL, July 14 (UPI) -- A vocal defector and activist known for his balloon launches into North Korea said he and his group sent 500,000 flyers and 2,000 copies of the film The Interview into North Korea.

Park Sang-hak of the Fighters for Free North Korea said Tuesday his group launched 20 helium balloons carrying the material, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.


Seoul and South Korea's police said, however, the number Park gave to the press was exaggerated.

Instead, a police contact said, Park and his group released 10 balloons containing 30,000 flyers and just 30 DVD copies of The Interview.

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An official in Seoul told Yonhap defector-activists tend to overstate the number of materials sent, in order to gather support for their work.

Park said the flyers contained information on the opening of the new U.N. office on human rights in South Korea and a message condemning Kim Jong Un's "politics of fear," according to Voice of America.

Fighters for Free North Korea said in statement the balloon launches were canceled in March due to increased tensions between South and North during the fifth anniversary of the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan.

A deadly torpedo in 2010 killed 46 South Korean seamen, and North Korea is held responsible for the incident.

Park told South Korea press that he has quietly resumed the balloon launches, but on Tuesday made his activities public, in protest of a Seoul request to keep a low profile on his anti-Pyongyang campaign.

Yonhap reported the direction of the wind at time of launch made it difficult to assess whether the balloons landed in North Korea.