The Supreme Court has ruled against the unification ministry’s decision to cancel the establishment of a non-profit organization by a North Korean defector group over its distribution of anti-Pyongyang leaflets.

The top court issued the ruling on Thursday for a suit filed against the unification minister by Fighters for a Free North Korea, overturning initial rulings and sending the case back to the Seoul High Court.

In July 2020, the unification ministry scrapped its permission for the group to create a non-profit after the organization flew anti-Pyongyang leaflets north of the border, which Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, criticized as a violation of inter-Korean agreements.

In the two previous trials on the case, the courts sided with the unification ministry, saying the distribution of the leaflets could be regarded as a violation of the public interest that poses a threat to the lives and safety of the South Korean people and raise military tensions, thus harming the government’s efforts to pursue policies centered on peace and unification.