North Korean defectors are ramping up a campaign to covertly flood their former homeland with flashdrives and balloons full of news bulletins and documentaries to counter state propaganda as tensions escalate with the US over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missiles programmes.

Assisted by the US-based, and privately funded, Human Rights Foundation (HRF) their ultimate aim is to bring down the pariah regime from within, by engaging directly with North Koreans, providing illicit information that will influence mindsets and fuel dissatisfaction.

Up to 10,000 flashdrives were successfully smuggled into North Korea as Pyongyang’s relations sharply deteriorated over the past year, said Alex Gladstein, HRF’s chief strategy officer.

But with traditional military and diplomatic strategies apparently failing to temper the threat of nuclear conflict, activists are now working furiously to reach a target of 100,000 by mid-2018.