South Korea-s government said Wednesday that it will press charges against two activist groups that have been floating anti-Pyongyang leaflets and bottles filled with rice to North Korea for allegedly breaking the law by sending unauthorized materials to the rival nation.

The announcement by Seoul-s Unification Ministry came a day after North Korea announced it was cutting off all communication channels with South Korea over its inability to prevent North Korean defectors and other activists from flying the leaflets across the border. Yoh Sang-key, the ministry-s spokesman, told reporters the two groups to be charged had "created tensions between the South and North and brought danger to the lives and safety of South Korean residents in border areas."
Seoul-s pursuit of legal action against the groups is likely to trigger a debate over freedom of expression and whether President Moon Jae-in-s liberal government is sacrificing democratic principles to keep alive his ambitions for inter-Korean engagement.