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WORLD NEWSThursday 11 February 2016

A wild elephant that strayed into the town stands after authorities shot it with a tranquilizer gun at South Korea to shut down joint
Siliguri in West Bengal state, India, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. The elephant had wandered from industrial park with North Korea
the Baikunthapur forest on Wednesday, crossing roads and a small river before entering the town.
The panicked elephant ran amok, trampling parked cars and motorbikes before it was tranquil- YOUKYUNG LEE
ized. AP Business Writer
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea said Wednes-
(AP Photo) day that it will shut down a joint industrial park with
North Korea in response to its recent rocket launch, ac-
Elephant rampages in India, smashing homes cusing the North of using hard currency from the park
to develop its nuclear and missile programs.
MANIK BANERJEE The elephant had wan- for domesticated pachy- The decision to end operations at the industrial com-
Associated Press dered from the Baikun- derms that is maintained plex in the North Korean border city of Kaesong, the
KOLKATA, India (AP) — A thapur forest, crossing by the forest department. last major cooperation project between the rival coun-
wild elephant rampaged roads and a small river be- Once the effect of the tran- tries, comes after North Korea on Sunday launched a
through an east Indian fore entering the town of quilizer wore off, authori- long-range rocket considered by other nations to be a
town on Wednesday, Siliguri in West Bengal state. ties planned to return the banned missile technology test.
smashing cars and homes Divisional Forest Officer Ba- elephant to the forest, Rai By closing the complex, South Korean President Park
and sending panicked sab Rai said the female el- said. Elephants are increas- Geun-hye has done something her conservative pre-
people running before the ephant appeared to be a ingly coming into contact decessor resisted, even after two attacks blamed on
animal was tranquilized to loner without a herd, and with people in India, as North Korea killed 50 South Koreans in 2010. It is among
be returned to the forest. was likely searching for the human population of the strongest punitive measures available to her.
As the frightened ele- food when it strayed into 1.25 billion soars and cities South Korean Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said
phant ran amok, trampling the town. and towns grow at the ex- at a news conference that the suspension of opera-
parked cars and motor- He said it did not attack any pense of jungles and other tions at the park would stop the North from using cur-
bikes, crowds of people people, and appeared to elephant habitats. In India rency earned there to develop nuclear and missile
gathered to watch from be afraid of them. After and Sri Lanka, more than technology.
balconies and roof tops. several hours, it became 400 elephants and 250 hu- The park, which started producing goods in 2004, has
Some followed from a dis- clear the elephant was un- mans are killed each year. provided 616 billion won ($560 million) of cash to im-
tance as the elephant able to find its way back to On Wednesday, another poverished North Korea, Hong said.
moved through the streets. the forest. wild elephant trampled “It appears that such funds have not been used to pave
“The elephant was scared Authorities eventually shot a farmer to death in the the way to peace as the international community had
and was trying to go back the elephant three times southern state of Tamil hoped, but rather to upgrade its nuclear weapons and
to the jungle,” said Papa- with a tranquilizer gun and Nadu. The farmer had long-range missiles,” he said at the televised briefing.
iya Sarkar, a 40-year-old used a crane to lift it into a been sleeping in his paddy The Unification Ministry, which is responsible for relations
homemaker who watched truck once it had calmed field when the elephant with North Korea, said in a statement that the govern-
the elephant amble down down. appeared, police told Press ment had “decided to completely shut down” the
a street near her home. It was then taken to a park Trust of India.q park. It notified North Korean authorities of the decision
and asked them to help ensure the safe return of South
Korean citizens from Kaesong.
There was no immediate reaction to the move from
North Korea.
The United States supported the move by its close ally,
and said it was considering its own, unspecified “uni-
lateral measures” to punish Pyongyang for its recent
nuclear test and rocket launch, even as the U.N. Se-
curity Council deliberates imposing more multilateral
sanctions.
South Korea’s government will provide financial com-
pensation to companies that operate at the park, the
Finance Ministry said.
South Korean businesses with factories at the park re-
acted with a mixture of disappointment and anger. In
a statement, the association of South Korean compa-
nies in Kaesong denounced the government’s decision
as “entirely incomprehensible and unjust.”
Lee Eun Haeng, chairman of Ilsung Leports, which pro-
duces fashion goods at the park, said the companies
had become “victims” of a political situation.q