SEOUL (AFP): Activists who float anti-Pyongyang leaflets into North Korea by balloon said yesterday they have also started sending DVDs disclosing secrets about the private life of leader Kim Jong Il.

A total of 400 DVDs have been floated from South Korea on three occasions since last month, said Mr Lee Min Bok, who leads a group of Christian defectors campaigning to topple the communist regime.

'This is a revolution in ways to wake up brainwashed North Koreans,' Mr Lee said. 'Videos are a much more powerful way than writing to convince an audience.'

The DVDs contain documentary footage about World War II and the Korean War and footage of South Korea's dramatic economic development.

Mr Lee said they also air witnesses' accounts of Mr Kim's 'luxurious and decadent' lifestyle, including his affair with Ms Sung Hye Rim.

When she was involved with Mr Kim in the late 1960s, Ms Sung was a married woman and former movie star. She gave birth to his first son Jong Nam.

Defectors say that even in the impoverished North, a considerable number of houses have DVD players and residents watch banned discs from overseas.

'Punishment is harsh there, of course. But enforcement is not so strict as you imagine,' Mr Lee said.

Many security agents overlook the offence in return for a bribe since they do not want to antagonise their neighbours, he said.