SEOUL - An activist group in South Korea said on Friday it had released balloons into North Korea carrying dollar bills and leaflets denouncing the government in Pyongyang, defying a recently imposed law banning such releases.

Park Sang-hak, who defected from North Korea in 2000 and heads the group Fighters For Free North Korea, said he had launched 10 advertising balloons carrying 500,000 leaflets, 500 mini booklets and five thousand $1 bills from locations in border provinces between Sunday and Thursday.