Three South Korean pro-unification activists will face punishment for making illegal contact with North Koreans in China, a Seoul official said Saturday.

An official with the Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said the three civilians, representing a pro-unification activist group called the South Side Committee for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration, will pay the price for violating the law aimed at regulating inter-Korean contact.

No South Koreans can visit North Korea or have contact with North Koreans without prior government approval. Violators can be fined up to 1 million won ($890).

“We had informed the committee that we wouldn’t accept their request for permission for the contact,” the ministry official said. “But they went ahead with the meeting with North Koreans. We have no choice but to deal with this matter in accordance with the relevant law.”

The South Koreans held two rounds of talks with North Korean officials in Shenyang, China, and returned home earlier Saturday.

The contact was aimed at preparing events to mark the 12th anniversary of the so-called June 15 declaration, reached at the historic inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang in on June 15, 2000.

The first-ever inter-Korean summit between then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il significantly eased tension on the Korean Peninsula, helping the South Korean president win the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize. 

(Yonhap News)