THE PROPAGANDA FLOAT

SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.)

A Viet Cong Anti-Election Booklet floated on a Raft

This anti-election leaflet is one sheet of paper folded to make four pages. The text inside is dated 11 September 1966. It was filed by G2 (Intelligence) with number 01402 and the comment “It asks people to boycott the September 1966 election and was floated downstream on a raft.” It seems to have been found in An Xuyen, a province in the Mekong Delta within the old Republic of Vietnam. The full title of this document is:

Statement of the Ca Mau Province National Liberation Front Committee on Boycotting the Phony November 1966 National Assembly Elections Being Held by the Saigon Puppet Government

A Typical Viet Cong Leaflet – American Servicemen

Viet Cong leaflets were usually hand-written, typed or printed on ancient portable presses in the bush. The paper was usually of poor quality as was the English and grammar. This leaflet accuses the Americans of various war crimes:

American Servicemen

Don’t fire at and spray suffocating gas into our people’s air and cannon shelters. Don’t destroy crop, kill domestic animals and plunder our people’s property. Repression, terrorism, massacre, house burning, woman raping…are not the democratic American’s ideals. Stop spraying noxious chemicals in Vietnam.

The leaflet is signed on the back by the “South Vietnam National Front for Liberation” and has additional text:

Stop the war of aggression in South Vietnam! Bloods of American and Vietnam youth have been shed too much. Peace in South Vietnam and repatriation for all U.S. Troops!

U.S. Troops Gather Viet Cong Propaganda Leaflets from Water in Mekong Delta – 1969

What do you do if you are Viet Cong and have no Navy and no time to prepare propaganda floats? You simply place the leaflets in the water and let the current take them wherever it goes. Here U.S. troops from the “Brown Water Navy” clear the stream of anti-U.S. and South Vietnam propaganda.

THE COLD WAR – U.S. vs NORTH KOREA

Cold War Float to North Korea with t-Shirt and Pencils

An example of waterborne dissemination is the float depicted above. This American container was used against North Korea. The float is a plastic jar with a bright red cap to draw attention. There are three items inside. First, a colorful child's shirt with an amusing design, next a pencil strategically broken in half so that it can fit inside the plastic jar and finally, a bright red parachute (possibly to be used if the floats were dropped from aircraft). This same type of float was used against Vietnam, released from offshore submarines.

Lieutenant Colonel Underhill added:

The propaganda leaflet program directed against North Korea was the major focus of our propaganda activities. However, it was augmented with the "propaganda float." The propaganda float was simply a plastic bag with various printed media and gift items placed inside. The bag was then placed in the water where the winds and/or currents would carry it to an area or shore line where it would be discovered by North Koreans.

A water borne package provides tremendous flexibility in terms of items that can be presented to the target audience. Detailed coverage of the float program was published in a twelve chapter, 46 page booklet by the 7th Psychological Operations Group. Five hundred copies were distributed, and some of the material in my memoirs was taken from that booklet.

Underhill added:

The propaganda float operation directed against North Korea was begun in 1965. North Korean officials ignored the operation for a long time. Internally, instructions were passed by various Party officials to deal with the situation. Initially, propaganda floats were systematically prepared on an assembly line basis. This proved to be an error in judgement on my part. If someone attempted to conceal an item, North Korean authorities simply had to located one package intact, inventory it, and then round up all items that were on their inventory list. However, we introduced the technique of systematically placing items in the float package on a spotty basis. The absence of an item would not create undue suspicion when the float package reached security officials because all packages were not the same. In one such instance, on the evening of August 10, 1970, a variety of float packages were inserted into the North Korea offshore waters by the Republic of Korea Navy. The contents of these floats were not identical, which marked the first time the technique was used.

At a later date Dave told me more about his operation:

I was able to establish a float operation off the west coast of North Korea. The current moved from up the coast of China and followed the current down the North Korean west coast. By using pillow sized float bags I was able to move the float bags against the current. I was able to reach a large number of coastal fisherman and residents. The bags contained radios to support our seventeen hours a day, seven days a week VUNC (Voice of the United Nations Command) radio broadcasts. There were also gift items, magazines and propaganda materials. The Navy loved it. One fisherman secreted a gift of cord used in repairing fishnets. He unwound it to its tiny, individual string and made a fishing dip net. He couldn't keep it a secret and neighbors wanted to borrow it. He never loaned it out. He explained to them that if the Communist party found out they would get in trouble.

The Navy loved it. It gave them an actual anti-Communist mission.

The fishing communities ultimately realized that the communist information media were all deceptive.On one ship they actually overpowered the ship's political officer who was also the chief engineer and defected to South Korea.

The Communists responded by shutting down all west coast fishing operations.They removed ALL fishermen, their families, friends and neighbors and everyone that might live close enough to the coast to make their way and defect.The entire coastal population was moved inland. The fishermen lost their extra sea-duty pay.

Dave said that the Communist regime paid a lot of attention to the floats and many defectors who came to South Korea when interrogated mentioned the floats. He gave me some examples. A former North Korean fisherman, who was later recruited as an agent and dispatched to the Republic of Korea immediately surrendered to South Korean authorities upon his arrival in the South:

One morning in May or June, we were fishing for yellow corvina near Mu Island. I was taking a nap after having cast the fishing net, when I was awakened by noise made by other crewmen. I saw the men reading five or six South Korean booklets of different types. The men said that these publications had been packed in a vinyl bag found floating on the water. One of the crewmen had picked it out of the water with a basket-type scoop net.

I had heard many rumors among the fishermen at the Fishery Enterprise Office about other fishermen who, while at sea fishing, had found vinyl bags floating on the water. I heard from crewmen of Boat No. 65, which was assigned to the same Boat Group, and which had been fishing in the same area as our boat, that they had picked up three vinyl bags containing South Korean propaganda material. The vinyl bags contained booklets, T-shirts, and underpants. I heard that a fisherman working for the enterprise had posted on the mirror in his room a color photograph of a nice looking girl which he had cut out of a booklet from a vinyl bag found floating on the water. The fisherman took down the picture a few days later because his neighbors considered that posting such a picture was unusual and immoral and against Communist ethics.

Some fisherman, particularly young men, tried to find such bags while they were at sea. They knew that they had to turn such bags ink but they were curious to look at the bags' contents before they turned them in. The men desired to keep the items themselves, especially small items such as cigarette lighters, cigarette holders and the like which were easily concealable on their persons. A Mr. Choi who was also a fisherman, had a small fishing net made of nylon string which he had obtained while at sea. What Mr. Choi had done had been to take apart the nylon cord into its individual threads and from there he had woven his fishing net. Many fishermen that found nylon cords in vinyl bags and had taken the cords to their homes for use in hanging up laundry to dry.

Years after I wrote this article, I was looking through some old files and found some small memorandums from Dave Underhill regarding the leaflet float project. Here you see the inner workings of a very devious psychological warfare genius. Some of his comments were:

FROM: Executive Officer

TO: Chinese and Korea Desks.

Floats: Identify the purpose of program.

Include a variety of inexpensive items that point to economic prosperity and technical or social advance in South Korea for lower classes in society.

Maximum use of June winds - floats high on water

Use of Chinese currents - floats low on water

Objects on floats: Paying cards, multiplication “flash” cards, rulers with multiplication tables (we used in Vietnam), bookmarks (read for improvement and enjoyment), marbles (5 for 8 cents), flash cards (past heroes, places, dates, anniversaries, etc.), bars of soap (small bars like those used in motels, hotels) to demonstrate quality superiority.

You should also consider stickers that can be pasted in places that would be embarrassing to the Communist cadre, and that would be difficult to remove (such as on glass surfaces in public or semi-public places, on metal such as vehicles, etc.), a Korean Flag printed on cardboard or high-quality paper to demonstrate a superior quality (a few may be posted for others to see, etc.), A Song book collection of popular, well-known songs, printed on quality paper. Most North Korean songs are propagandistic in nature. This would demonstrate economic progress due to high quality paper, prosperous lower class due to nature of songs, and demonstrate that in a free society music is for enjoyment and not furthering the aims of the party, large full color reproductions of well-known places, cultural places, and things, in South Korea like the Capital Building, South Gate, etc. I suggest maximum use of full color in all the items.

There should be one obvious item (a standout item) different in each float launch to assist in establishing the insertion date.

Continue along the same lines we have discussed in the past as far as gift items are concerned. I have the notes on currents and some more notes of mine in the detachment’s safe.

The Navy is going to do a formal study [of the float program I assume]. The 7th PSYOP Group will be tasked with getting the information. I asked that the message be worded in such a way that we could provide them with a collection of notes and not a formal study. That way we could pass the notes on to the Navy for their formal study. We could then send a series of fact sheets or listing of factual data along with our rational for the program.

Another memorandum dated 24 August 1969 to the Executive Officer of the 15th PSYOP Battalion added:

I believe all the tasks have been met. Have you heard anything from J3 on what they are doing with our float study?

A final undated memo to the 15th PSYOP Battalion regarding propaganda leaflets for the Eighth US Army says in part:

Six loads at Osan are not enough. [Osan is a major air base in Korea and leaflets had to be dropped immediately over North Korea when the winds were just right. Dave seems to be saying we should have more leaflets ready to go when “weather” calls us]. It looks like the 7th PSYOP Group is going to schedule the high-altitude leafleting course. If I give it, this will take me our of the system for 5 days. [Dave wrote the book on leafleting so he would be needed to teach any course to drop leaflets from 30,000 feet high well out in international waters and have the leaflets land on Kim il Jong’s doorstep, as he once told me he could do]. Gift items are being compiled. The Chinese or Korea desk is not qualified to provide a United Nations Command PSYOP officer with the expenses and limitations of the program. He might be able to provide a dollar cost but that would be all. [Money was always a problem with the leafleting program. The bean counters constantly wanted more leaflets fitted on a sheet, even though to get the maximum number would mean leaflets with no accuracy. Dave knew the exact leaflet sizes he needed for accuracy, even if a some of the sheet was left blank].

A Gift Bag for North Korea
Twine for the fishermen and pencils and pens for the children

I have 7th PSYOP Group reports of float operations off the coast of Korea on different dates:

From 26 to 28 May 1970, 3,600 gift bags were floated into North Korea as well as 200 miniature red radios.

One of the Miniature Radios
And of course all of the bags contained propaganda leaflets

From 10 to 11 July 1970, 5,000 bags were floated from the West Sea into North Korea as well as 300 miniature red radios.

From 20 to 22 July 1970, 800 bags were floated onto the north coast of North Korea as well as 500 miniature blue radios.

From 20 to 21 August 1970, 4,000 bags were floated from the West Sea onto North Korea.

Looking at the final totals for gift bag items floated into North Korea I find the following for fiscal 1970:

27,000 Nail clippers, 32,100 Medical plasters, 23,500 rubber balls, 61,700 bars of soap, 32,100 copies of the magazine “Korea Today”, 175,200 leaflets, 26,700 large plastic bags, 32,200 small plastic bags, and 2,100 radios in blue, green, purple and red.

There seems to be some debate about what should go into the gift bags. Although very cheap items were placed in the bags, the expense was still high. One report titled Special Printed Materials for Float Program points out that “an expanded float program precludes use of gifts of even limited cost because of lack of funds.” The report goes on to recommend:

A series of pamphlets of 8, 12 or 16 pages should be prepared on various aspects of South Korea. Items for use in the pamphlets can be taken from past issues of “Freedom” magazine and photographs used on calendars. An example of a pamphlet that should have considerable psychological impact would be a collection of photographs of places of cultural interest in the Republic of Korea with short captions and a text that speaks preservation of the Korean culture and cultural assets.

On the evening of 10 August 1970, a variety of float packages were inserted into the North Korea offshore waters by the Republic of Korea Navy. The North Koreans reacted immediately. At 1200 on 11 August, the following Pyongyang Radio Domestic Service broadcast was monitored:

The US aggressor army carried out another military provocation in the western sector of the front in the Han River area. The US aggressor army floated rubber boats and balloons [These were actually inflated polyethylene gift bags] carrying explosives towards our side of the river from Kanghwa Island and Kimpo peninsula on the night of 10 August, taking advantage of the rising tide. About the time when these rubber boats and balloons arrived at the riverbank, the US aggressor army carried out a heinous provocation by firing hundreds of rounds of heavy arms fire at our people's outposts and the populated district in the area. Our people's army sentinels took an immediate countermeasure and sank all the explosives floated by the US aggressor army, completely foiling the enemy's provocative attempts.

Eight cooperative North Korean defectors and one recently captured espionage agent still in custody made up the panel to critique the gifts to be placed into floats in late 1970. In general, the gifts were all approved and the jigsaw puzzle, writing board, stickers and flash cards were deemed so attractive and useful that children might hide and keep them instead of turning them in. The panel recommended that there should be no writing of any kind on any object that would give its origin away.

The panel recommended that certain items be added to the list. Playing cards are in great demand. They are not produced in Korea and old people play with cards left by the Chinese after the Korean War. North Koreans would be impresses to learn that South Korea could make plastic playing cards. Some other items were mentioned, coloring books, colored paper for folding, a pocket sized comb, and a show-horn.

 

A fancy Emollient Soap Packaged with a Propaganda Leaflet

A Pair of Fancy women’s Panties with a Propaganda Leaflet

A gift for our Northern Compatriots

 

A camouflaged bag of rice with propaganda leaflet

Rice for our cherished unification

Skin Medicine

A Toothbrush with Propaganda Leaflet

These items were sent north in the late 1980s or early 1990s.  At that time leaflet operations were run by the Korean Agency for National Planning (NSP), the new name for the Korean Central Intelligence Agency.  It is clear that the South Koreans sent many different types of gifts northward in their sea floats and balloons. Above, we depict some items that were individually packed and then placed inside a larger plastic bag. Other gifts within this particular load were some material that the women could make clothes from and a toothbrush. The South Korean Government stopped balloon and sea float operations when Roh Moo-hyun was elected President in 2003, but defector groups continued sending propaganda and gifts north. At this time the U.S. was not actively engaged in PSYOP against North Korea. But, they were tracking the leaflets and themes. The U.S. was mostly working on contingencies for war.  

Preparation of Floats

Republic of Korea Navy technicians with U. S. PSYOP specialists prepare float bags to be drifted into North Korean waters and along the shoreline as part of Operation Jilli (Truth).

A Float Containing a PSYOP Radio

A U. S. - Republic of Korea Cold War float containing a radio in its protective package. The sea currents flow from North to South. The radio has been placed in a pillow-size inflated plastic bag that acts as a sail. The package is moved against the current using south-southwesterly winds where it is picked up by fishermen at sea, or people along the shoreline. Magazines, leaflets, book marks, chopsticks, fishing line and other gift items were sent to North Korea through this method of dissemination.

A Trail of Floats

As the ship moves forward a trail of “pillow” floats follows. They will eventually be swept by the wind and tide to the North Korean coastline.

The Americans would question North Korean defectors to determine what gifts were most desirable. In 1966 defector stated that the best gifts would be cigarette holders (fishermen’s hands are usually wet); cigarette lighters (The matches tend to get wet); nylon cord; sunglasses; cigarette cases (To keep the cigarettes dry) and ball-point pens (they are very expensive in North Korea).

The same questions were asked again two years later by the the Target Analysis Section of the 7th PSYOP Group that published a weekly newsletter called PSYOP Intelligence Notes. The issue of 21 May 1968 discussed items that might be placed in gift bags for North Korean fishermen as recommended by a North Korean spy who was caught and interrogated. The objects were: electric light bulbs (the fishing boats always needed bulbs and they were scarce; Earmuffs for the cold winter days; Nylon string; Cigarette holders; and brooches for the fishermen’s wife who only have plastic jewelry. If floats were used, they should be thin, not too bulky and the contents should be clearly visible.

Non-fisherman defectors preferred work clothes; winter underwear; socks; undershirts; gloves and cloth among 14 other items that were scarce in the north such as grain, sweets cash and laundry soap.

North Korean soldier defectors wanted fountain pens and radios, but admitted that their officers said they contained explosives. The evil Americans and South Koreans waited for you to wind the watches or change the radio stations and then you were blown up.

The Americans knew the kind of product they wanted to float north. Two examples are bars of soap that contained messages on the wrapper, or inside the soap that would appear as the soap was used. They wanted marbles because they were extremely cheap, and the children were sure to play with them.

A 1 December 1970 7th PSYOP Group report titled School Kits in Psychological Operations said in part:

There should be student’s kits. The student’s kits could contain: pencils, erasers, rulers, protractor, compass, pencil box, crayons, shitajiki (writing board), clipboard, coloring materials, notebooks, coloring books, sketch books, stickers or decals, National flag, National anthem music and words, bookmarkers, and leaflets, pamphlets or booklets.

The 7th PSYOP Group recommended in an article titled The North Korean Defector that in selecting gift items for the float program, the widest variety possible should be obtained. No “standard” float package should be created; rather a variety of packages should be disseminated on each mission, and as far as possible each mission should include a new variety of float packages.

The reasoning behind this recommendation is that if a standard package was created, it would be very easy for North Korean security forces to check the packages found by fishermen and tell if anything had been hidden away. By keeping the contents random, the security forces would never know what had originally been inside the float.

Another North Korean defector recommended various items to be placed in the gift packets floated in plastic bags to Korea by the United States Army 7th PSYOP Group. Although the source had never seen or heard about the use of plastic bags floating on water as a delivery means for leaflets and other materials, he said that type of operation was, in his opinion, excellent and a well-suited PSYOP delivery method to reach the target audience. He recommended as gift items for inclusion in the floating plastic bags the following:

A Pojaji – A square cloth designed to carry articles. An Indan case – A container for carrying a medicine used for sweet-smelling breath. Handkerchiefs, soap containers, shoe horns, combs, a money case, children’s toys, children’s fairytale books and picture books for children.

He recommended that in sending such gift items, the best quality items should be used for greater effectiveness. He said that this would achieve two purposes: (1) show the excellence and high quality of Republic of Kora goods to the target audience, and (2) create in the target audience dissatisfaction with North Korean goods, especially when in actual use the ROK items lasted much longer and were better than North Korean made equivalents. If the aim is to create an immediate impression of excellence of the item, then the brand names of ROK manufacturers or some other indication of ROK origin should be clearly seen. But if the aim is to emphasize the superiority of the item based upon actual long term use, then there should be nothing on the item to indicate origin in the ROK.

The float operation was fairly successful. One fisherman defector stated:

One morning in May or June, we were fishing near Mu Island. I was taking a nap after having cast the fishing net, when I was awakened by noise made by other crewmen. I saw the men reading five or six South Korean booklets of different types. The men said that these publications had been packed in a vinyl bag found floating on the water. One of the crewmen had picked it out of the water with a basket-type scoop net. While the crewmen were reading the material, the chief engineer of the boat, who was also the officer in charge of Party activity on board, confiscated the material and took it to his room. The chief engineer said that this material was from South Korea.

An “Envelope" float containing leaflets for North Korea

A North Korean military defector's comments on the program:

According to my company leader and the assistant company leader for political affairs, wristwatches, fountain pens, and radio sets sent from South Korea were found in the area north of the Imjin River. They said that these things were fixed with explosives. Dials of the radios are fixed to Republic of Korea broadcasts, and if turned to other stations they explode. Members of my company were told not to pick up such things when found in the company area.

A fisherman who defected to the south said:

The leaflet listing the South Korean radio frequencies was a great help to me in listening to the South Korean radio stations. However, South Korean news program schedules should also have been supplied in the leaflet.

A rather dubious Air Force veteran and retired Foreign Service officer told me about one propaganda float mission that he took part in:

In the 1960s, I went out on a small patrol boat with the South Korean navy and watched them float thousands of Styrofoam-packed transistor radios ashore in North Korea. A friend of mine was the U.S. Army civilian who edited the magazine distributed in South Korea through an arrangement with the Korean National Police---an outrageous waste of my tax dollars. I never saw any evidence that any psychological operation had any impact at all.

Other types of floats used against North Korea were simple plastic bags containing Korean-language publications and/or nylon string that could be used by the fishermen to make nets, hang clothes, and dozens of other uses. In order to get the North Koreans to pick up the floats and hopefully read the leaflets, gifts were often placed inside the floats. The interrogation of North Korean fishermen determined that the gifts they most wanted to find in the floats were; cigarette lighters, cigarette cases, cigarette holders, nylon cord, sunglasses, and ball-point pens. Non-fishermen preferred various articles of clothing and cash. Other recommended items to be placed in the floats were; soap bars, rulers, and marbles for the children.

In 2019 I asked former Lieutenant Colonel Dave Underhill who was involved in propaganda to North Korea about some bookmarks that he printed. He told me that the bookmarks had been used in both North and South Korea. In the North they were delivered on floats. Apparently he floated a number of different bookmarks into North Korea to show them that South Korea still appreciated their culture. He told me something else that seemed amusing in a propaganda war:

I am into bookmarks. I have quite a collection. Libraries like them. If people use bookmarks, they don’t bend over a page to mark where they stopped reading.

So, not only did he want to propagandize North Koreans, but he felt a personal need to protect the books in their libraries. He was quite a guy!

Bookmark 70-1

[Gifts]

There were a number of bookmarks in the Korean language printed by the 7th PSYOP Group Japanese detachment. They were printed on 3 June 1971 and disseminated at a later date. Bookmark 70-1 depicts a primitive Korean mask and a detailed temple roof on the front and a single line of text on the back:

Hahoe Mask

The Hahoe mask is used in traditional masque plays. This wooden mask originated from the Koryo Dynasty.

The beautiful painting of our country’s old architecture.

Bookmark 70-6

The bookmark has a photograph of the statue of King Sejong on the front and four seals on the back from the Yi Dynasty. Some of the text is:

Here, great King Sejong, an absolute benefactor for our Korean race, who invented the most reasonable alphabet in human history, is promulgating the original 28-letter alphabet (Hangul) with his declaration of independence for national culture.

Wooden Chop sticks

While on the subject of floating items to North Korean, Dave also mentioned chop sticks. He said that the idea came to him in a PSYOP Conference in Hawaii:

In South Korea, we prepared some good wooden chop sticks and went around getting information about fancy restaurants with names, hours, menu specialties, etc. The idea was to make some good wood ones with many advertisements. We knew the North Koreans could not conceive of the variety of eating establishments in South Korea. North Korea had no forests to cut down and only used plastic chop sticks which were resented by their people. We knew if we floated these upstream into North Korea they would find and use the chopsticks, and every one of them secretly acted as South Korean propaganda.

Some Sample Chopsticks gathered by the 7th PSYOP Group for Evaluation

A letter to Underhill mentions that the concept of chopsticks was tested on a panel of North Korean defectors and they loved the idea. The interesting part about this concept is that it is not the chopsticks that are important. It is the paper wrapping on the outside that would mention all the restaurants in South Korea. The PSYOP occurs when the people see the various ads and realize that South Korea is booming and full of restaurants offering excellent food. Bamboo is imported into North Korea from China and is rare. The people would understand that in South Korea they use them once and throw them away. The panel recommended that there should be many named restaurants, mostly from small towns written in Hangol (the Korean alphabet) and the words daejoong shiktang (restaurant for the rank and file). A telephone number would show that telephones were common in South Korea. Any food mentioned should be Korean dishes and terms like “thank you” and “friendliness and service” should be used. All North Korean restaurants are owned by the state and the help is apathetical toward the customers. The chopsticks should be made of bamboo and they would be saved and later be used by women as knitting needles.

They also thought a small sushi box would be a good PSYOP gift.

There was also a discussion of toys in North Korea. City people can buy poor-quality toys, but folks in the country cannot afford them. One of the panelists said he bought his child a toy helicopter for 12 won and it came apart in less than three days. Since the North Koreans are told that South Korea has nothing but foreign-made items in their stores, sending some well-made South Korean toys north would make a statement. One of the favorite toys of small children are balloons that look like frogs, ducklings, bears, dog, pigs, and the like.

The U.S. military believes the best way to determine if a propaganda campaign is working is to listen for the howls of complaint of the enemy. On 10 August 1970, North Korea’s Radio Pyongyang announced:

The U.S. aggressor army carried out another military provocation in the western sector of the front in the Han River area.

The U.S. aggressor army which has recently carried out armed provocations against the northern half of the republic…floated rubber boats and balloons [actually inflated polyethylene gift bags] carrying explosives towards our side of the river…About the same time when these rubber boats and balloons arrived at the river bank, the U.S. aggressor army carried out a heinous provocation by firing hundreds of rounds of heavy arms fire at our people’s army outposts and the populated district, Our people's army sentinels took an immediate countermeasure and sank all the explosives floated by the US aggressor army, completely foiling the enemy's provocative attempts.

In 2016-2017, the Cold War flared up again between the two Koreas and anti-Communist activists sent propaganda to the North. In an Associated Press article dated 20 August 2017, entitled Fighting North Korea with Balloons, TV Shows and leaflets, author Tim Sullivan said:

Still, every year the activists send hundreds of thousands of leaflets across the border, and thousands of DVDs and thumb drives loaded with everything from Bibles to American sitcoms to South Korean historical dramas. Some are transported by hired smugglers via China. Some are sealed inside 2-liter water bottles tossed into the surf along the South Korean coast, then carried north by the current.

THE COLD WAR – U.S. vs RED CHINA

There were also Cold War operations where American-made leaflets were placed in plastic resealable drinking containers and released off the coast of Red China by vessels from the Republic of Korea.

Captain Nahlik of the 7th PSYOP Group told me that he had recommended Submarines as a way to send leaflets into mainland China during the Cold War. The leaflets would be put into the torpedo ports and discharged when in the area where current would be flowing towards the mainland. The method was workable and liked but rejected because it would enable the Chinese to determine where our submarines had been patrolling by doing backward current studies.

THE COLD WAR – TAIWAN vs RED CHINA

Nationalist Chinese Model Leaflet Boat

U.S. Army Sergeant Fynis Eugene Briddle, writing the Falling Leaf, the Journal of the Psywar Society, mentions being stationed as the non-commissioned officer on Quemoy in 1971. He said in part:

Kinmen (Quemoy) is a small island group, the largest of which is less than five miles off the coast of the People’s Republic of China. While I was there both the Communists and Taiwanese military were still engaged in propaganda shelling on odd nights…There were several other methods of propaganda delivery used. The Nationalists would take hundreds of helium balloons; attach little gift packs such as soap dishes with soap, and propaganda leaflets to them. Another popular method was to put leaflets in beer bottles, seal them and throw them into the ocean when the tides were going out. They would also put the leaflets in little boats and float them to the mainland…

Chinese balloon Leaflet Floats

These balloon floats were released from Taiwan when the winds were just right to drift north to the Chinese coastal area. It is thought that they probably carried both leaflets and gifts to the people of the mainland.

A Chinese Propaganda Container 

 

The 7th PSYOP Group aided the Chinese sea operations. The photo above depicts a plastic container with a screw-on top. It could be filled with leaflets, cigarettes, matches or anything that was considered desirable to the mainland Chinese. 

 

National Chinese Leaflet

Complacency – Arrogance

This small ROC leaflet depicts Mao first being carried like an Indian maharajah. He wears what is almost a crown with his titles: Head of State, Marshal, Leader, and Chairman. To his right Lin Biao carries Mao’s flag which says Chairman. Over the entire panel is a Chinese character which reads:

Complacency

In the second panel Mao is standing while others talk behind his back. They are identified as Wang Ming, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, and He long. Mao says to himself, I am Number One. Over the entire panel is a Chinese character which reads:

Arrogance

The back is all text:

Combat arrogance and complacency - Who is the target?

We depict a Chinese leaflet bottle at the top of this article. Sergeant Briddle told me:

One day after work we had our Chinese Driver take us to a mine-free section of beach where we could swim in safety. When we arrived there we saw thousands of bottles lying on the beach. Apparently the tide turned and brought the leaflet bottle back to shore instead of towards the Chinese mainland. I brought one back but have never opened it and removed the leaflets.

If you look carefully at the bottle you will see that it contained the leaflet “Complacency – Arrogance.”

Chinese Glass Propaganda Floats Containing Leaflets

The glass ball appears to be a normal fish-net float with a hole drilled in it through which propaganda is inserted. Then a wooden peg seals the hole.

Irving R. Fang, in an article entitled “The Chinese-Chinese Psywar,” said in 1979 in that both sides send out their propaganda by radio, balloons, artillery shells, sea floats and loudspeakers. Small gifts were sent too; he mentioned underwear, toys and cooking oil.

A Communist Chinese leaflet-filled Float

Lee Lescaze said in a 1972 Washington Post article entitled “Quemoy: Pop goes the Propaganda”:

Leaflets are exchanged by “air floating” and “sea floating”…The sea floating operation is more aggressive. Speedboats manned by frogmen maneuver as close as is deemed prudent to the Chinese coast and jettison their cargoes of plastic leaflet containers.

THE PERSIAN GULF WAR – OPERATION DESERT STORM

The Gulf War “Marine Wave” Leaflet

The main American proponent of psychological warfare leaflets during Operation Desert Storm was the 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne). They produced and printed over 29 million leaflets. The Coalition forces packed M129E1 leaflet bombs with up to 54,000 machine-rolled leaflets, which were dropped over Iraqi concentrations by F-16, F/A-18, B-52, and MC-130 aircraft. Other leaflets were delivered by balloon. Interrogation of Iraqi prisoners revealed that 98% had seen Coalition leaflets. They also did one leaflet float operation, before the actual shooting war started.

Coalition water bottle float

You can clearly see the “wave” leaflet inside the bottle. This image appears three times in the 1996 US Army Training Film: The Invisible Sword; Psychological Operations

Probably the most famous use of the waterborne dissemination technique was the disinformation campaign used during Operation Desert Storm. Because of the heat, the military had an excess of empty water bottles. In order to convince the Iraqi forces that there would be a Marine invasion by sea, the Central Command printed a safe conduct leaflet with the text “Cease resistance - Be safe,” that depicted the face of a snarling Marine in an ocean wave, holding a bloody Kabar knife. The 4th PSYOP Group booklet Leaflets of the Persian Gulf War states that 12,000 bottles were floated along the Kuwaiti coast by a U.S.-paid smuggler from the United Arabs Emirates. The bottles washed ashore on January 14, one day before the January 15 deadline given to Iraq to withdraw their forces from Kuwait. One PSYOP Sergeant recalls:

We had about 15 people putting leaflets in the bottles, along with pebbles for ballast. Then we tried them out in a bathtub to make sure they would float right. It worked then, so I couldn't think of any reason it wouldn't work in the ocean.

Richard Johnson adds in Seeds of Victory that about the same time, American F-16 aircraft dropped the leaflets in M129E1 fiberglass leaflet bombs on two sorties over Iraqi forces defending the coast. 88,000 leaflets were dropped on 15 January and 120,000 leaflets on 6 February. The plan was a complete success. The Iraqi forces stood firm on the beaches and watched the ocean right up until Coalition forces from the western desert attacked and destroyed them.

This leaflet was originally printed in full color. It was later printed in black and white. I actually got my black and white specimen from a leaflet bomb that was left open as part of an exhibit to show how the leaflets were packed in the bomb. I “sampled” the bomb!

Original artist concept of the Marine Tidal Wave leaflet.

Sp4 Time Wallace

This leaflet was drawn by Tim Wallace of the 4th PSYOP Group. The product name of this leaflet is “Tidal Wave,” the product number is 2-U, and the CENTCOM mission number was 60-01-1. The text on the back of the leaflet in Arabic and English is:

CEASE RESISTANCE – BE SAFE

To seek refuge safely, the bearer must strictly adhere to the following procedures:

1. Remove the magazine from your weapon.

2. Sling your weapon over your left shoulder, muzzle down.

3. Have both arms raised above your head.

4. Approach the Multi-national forces slowly, with the soldier holding this document above his head.

5. If you do this, you will not die.

The Shield and the Storm, Jostens Inc., 1991, says:

Twenty U. S. amphibious warships with nearly 8000 Marines and 10,000 sailors were on-station in the Gulf of Oman. Before Desert Storm began, the task force enacted elaborate practice landings on Coalition beaches in the Persian Gulf. Five divisions of Iraqi infantry entrenched in Kuwait, some 80,000 men in all, watched and listened with keen interest as U. S. amphibious forces conducted these highly visible exercises, often accompanied by members of the international press corps.

American battleships actually fired on the beaches so that the Iraqis were sure the attack was about to occur. It was a remarkable deception operation.

The Iraqi Commander plots the Sea-borne Invasion

Did the plan work? The ground war took exactly 100 hours. We will never know for sure what part the Marine invasion leaflet played in Saddam's defeat, but we do know that the Iraqi III Corps commander's 20 x 30-foot intelligence map of Kuwait found on a Kuwait City floor depicted virtually every Coalition avenue of approach from the sea. To the very end, Iraqi troops nervously watched the Persian Gulf for any sign of the dreaded U. S. Marines and their landing craft. They waited in vain.

NORTH KOREA vs SOUTH KOREA

North Korean River-borne Leaflets

On 27 July 2016, North Korea sent plastic bags, each carrying about 20 leaflets, down the Han River. The river flows through Seoul, South Korea's capital city. The leaflets contained threats to launch missile attacks, and the North’s revisionist history of the Korean War where they claim that they won a resounding victory. Some of the leaflets contained messages that claim July 27th, Armistice Agreement Day, as the anniversary of North Korea’s victory over South Korea. The North insists it won the war and that the armistice was only reached because the U.N. forces sued for peace.

This is the first time that North Korea used a river to send leaflets and it is probably because the direction of wind isn't favorable in the summer to fly propaganda balloons from north to south.

One leaflet had three-image cartoons describing the North attacking with the Musudan intermediate range ballistic missile because South Korea and the U.S. that have a hostile policy toward the North. North Korean recently warned of unspecified "physical" measures in response to a U.S. plan to deploy an advanced missile defense system in South Korea by the end of next year and recently fired three ballistic missiles into the sea. The leaflet appears to be threatening the U.S. military base in Guam. The leaflet says in part:

North Korea’s new revolutionary weapons Hwasong-10 could completely destroy U.S. strategic assets in the Pacific Ocean.

Propaganda and gifts in Bottles to North Korea

With a possible peace between North and South Korea on the horizon, the South Korean Government has cracked down on the sending of leaflets by balloon. However, there are still some patriotic and religious organizations using bottles and the ocean tides to deliver their message. In May 2018, hundreds of half-gallon bottles were turned into gift packages, filled with a kilogram of uncooked white rice and a single US dollar bill; goods it would take the average North Korean 40 days to earn. Also inside is medicine to kill parasites, since doctors found worms in the stomach of a North Korean soldier who darted across the DMZ last year to defect. Finally, a USB stick full of videos with information from the outside world.

Park Jung-oh, head of North Korean defector group
Kuensaem, poses with a plastic bottle filled with rice and a COVID-19 face mask
Kim Hong-ji / Reuters

Citing South Korea’s failure to stop the defectors from sending propaganda and gifts north, North Korea blew up the joint liaison office on its side of the border, declared an end to dialogue with South Korea and threatened military action. Denouncing defectors as “mongrel dogs” and “human scum”, North Korea has said their activities are an insult to the dignity of the country’s supreme leader.

Members of the group Kuensaem fill empty plastic bottles with rice and masks
Kim Hong-ji / Reuters

Ignoring the protests from the north, on 18 June 2020, defectors from the Communist North Korean regime floated rice and medicine in large containers north. Hundreds of plastic bottles stuffed with rice, medicine and medical face masks were thrown into the sea to float them north. Gathered at a small park in Seoul, the group filled dozens of two-liter (4.2 pints) bottles with up to 3.3 pounds of rice each, sending up to 1,543 pounds of rice in total. Park Jung-oh said:

We do this as humanitarian aid amongst those who share the same values, so whatever North Korea says, we will continue to help those in hard situations, the elderly, and the victim.

The Rice Bottles

On 16 May 2023, Radio Free Asia reported that Mysterious bottles full of rice, US dollars and memory sticks containing anti-North Korean content showed up in the Han River around the South Korean capital of Seoul. They are the work of local North Korean escapee organizations. The bottles are intended to follow the flow of the river into the sea current, which could potentially deposit them on North Korean west coast beaches. The Ministry of Unification maintains a cautious stance that residents should refrain from sending leaflets and balloons to North Korea for their own safety, but it acknowledges that there are unconstitutional elements of the anti-leaflet law.

Colombia versus the FARC Guerrillas

Colombian President Juan Manual Santos

This photograph published in December 2011 depicts Colombian President Juan Manual Santos placing transparent spheres containing messages urging the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) members to come over to the government side.

Photo by Fredy Builes - Reuters

Propaganda Spheres in the Ortequaza River

The spheres were placed in the Ortequaza River and contain a small internal battery that keeps them lit for up to six days. The orbs contained hand-written notes and rosary beads from family members, in what was called "Operation Rivers of Light". It was reported that between 2007 and 2017, some 20,000 guerrillas left FARC, adding the fact FARC leaders asked for the ad campaigns to be suspended during peace talks is a testament to their effectiveness.

Veritas, the Magazine of the Special Operations forces featured an article on PSYOP in Colombia by Robert W. Jones Jr. Some of his comments were:

For many years U.S. PSYOP had provided support to the U.S. Embassy in Bogota through the auspices of the Overt Peacetime Psychological Operations Program (OP3). U.S PSYOP support was limited to counter-drug operations. By 1992, the main component for U.S. PSYOP was the Military Information Support team (MIST). The Colombians now have their own PSYOP unit, the Groupo Especial de Operaciones Sicologicas (Psychological Operations Special Group). Each Army division headquarters is equipped with a tactical development center with a computer workstation and print Risograph machine.

Starting its operations in 1964, the Colombian terrorist group FARC used violent, criminal methods, such as kidnapping for ransom, extortion, drug trafficking, blackmail, and bombings. The rebel group based in the jungles of Colombia was responsible for more than 6,000 kidnappings alone since the year 2000. Their prisoners were often military personnel.

In 2010, The Colombian Ministry of Defense had commandos put Christmas trees deep in the heart of guerrilla territory. Colombian Special Forces soldiers infiltrated the remote Macarena mountain range to dress an 82-foot-high tree with 2,000 lights. When guerrillas approached the tree, movement sensors made it light up and a banner announced the following message:

If Christmas can come to the jungle, you can come home. Demobilize. Everything is possible at Christmas

"Rivers of Light" LED illuminated globes

In 2011, the Colombians created a campaign called “Rivers of Light” in which family members put messages and small gifts in 7,000 LED-illuminated capsules sent floating down rivers the guerrillas were known to frequent.

The government also wrote messages promoting peace on soccer balls
and floated them down the river toward the FARC rebel encampments
[in South America]

The Philippines - Joint Task Group Tabang, Joint Task Force Marawi

Joint Task Force Group Tabang's leaflet drop

In October 2017, The Joint Task Group Tabang's leaflet airdrop was made to support the efforts of the Civil-Military Operations Regiment loudspeaker teams and the assaulting troops in the call for the remaining terrorists to surrender and to give safety tips to the civilians who were held hostage by the terrorists. 1000 water bottles were filled with surrender leaflets and dropped in the last stronghold of the terrorists. Just as the Coalition did in Operation Desert Storm, the Filipinos placed their leaflets in plastic water bottles and dropped them over the water where they would float to shore and be found by the enemy.

This is just a short look at one method of disseminating propaganda leaflets. Leaflet floats are not all that popular because they only affect those living along the coast or those that work on the water. Leaflets from the float will seldom make it inland to more populated areas. They are also easy for the enemy to find and destroy. Readers who would like to discuss this method of distribution further are encouraged to write to the author at sgmbert@hotmail.com .