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WORLD NEWSTuesday 19 January 2016

North Korea’s town Kaepoong, is seen from the unification observatory in Paju, north of Seoul, UN refugee agency chief seeks
South Korea. North Korea has launched an estimated 1 million propaganda leaflets by balloon a mass resettlement of Syrians
into South Korea amid increased animosities between the rivals following the North’s recent nu-
clear test, Seoul officials said Monday, Jan. 18, 2016. KARIN LAUB
Associated Press
(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) ZAATARI REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan (AP) — The new chief
of the U.N. refugee agency said Monday the world
Seoul: should find a fairer formula for sharing the burden of
North Korea sent 1 million propaganda leaflets Syria’s crisis, including taking in tens of thousands of
refugees from overwhelmed regional host nations.
HYUNG-JIN KIM Min-seok said the leaflets headfirst into a slop bucket. Filippo Grandi, who assumed his post earlier this month,
Associated Press have reached Seoul in ad- heads an agency grappling with mounting challenges
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — dition to areas close to the The leaflets referred to her as Syria’s five-year-old civil war drags on. Humanitarian
North Korea has launched border. aid lags more and more behind growing global needs,
an estimated 1 million pro- Such leafleting by the as “human filth.” It is not including those caused by the Syrian conflict.
paganda leaflets by bal- North is rare, as the two Ko- More than 4 million Syrians have fled their homeland,
loon into South Korea amid reas officially stopped psy- the first time North Korea the bulk living in increasingly difficult conditions in
increased tension between chological warfare as part neighboring countries such as Jordan and Lebanon,
the rivals following the of tension-reduction mea- has lashed out at Park, the while hundreds of thousands have flooded into Europe.
North’s recent nuclear test, sures in 2004. South Korean Grandi came to Jordan after a stop in Turkey. Later this
Seoul officials said Monday. activists have still occasion- South’s first female presi- week, he is due in Lebanon. He visited the Zaatari refu-
A Cold War-style stand- ally sent propaganda bal- gee camp in Jordan after meeting with King Abdullah
off has flared since North loons toward North Korea, dent, in a sexist or deroga- II in the capital, Amman.
Korea’s claim on Jan. 6 triggering angry responses His agency, UNHCR, hopes to raise money for refugees
that it tested a hydrogen from the North. tory manner. It has previ- at a London pledging conference in February, fol-
bomb. South Korea re- South Korean officials be- lowed by an international gathering in March in Ge-
sumed blasting anti-North lieve their broadcasts will ously referred to her as a neva where countries would commit to taking in more
propaganda broadcasts sting in the rigidly con- refugees.
and K-pop songs from bor- trolled, authoritarian coun- prostitute. “I think we need to be much more ambitious” about
der loudspeakers. North try by demoralizing frontline resettling refugees, Grandi said. “We are talking about
Korea quickly responded troops and residents. There Many foreign govern- large numbers ... in the tens of thousands.”
by restarting its own bor- are doubts in Seoul that “What is needed is a better sharing of responsibilities,
der broadcasts and float- the North Korean leaflets ments and analysts remain internationally, for a crisis that cannot only concern the
ing the balloons over the will have any impact on countries neighboring Syria,” he said.
border carrying anti-South the public in more affluent highly skeptical about the Hundreds of thousands of refugees entered Europe in
leaflets, according to Seoul South Korea. 2015, often with the help of smugglers who ferried them
officials. Leaflets discovered at a H-bomb claim, but what- across the Mediterranean in dangerous voyages.
Seoul’s Defense Ministry South Korean border town Grandi said it was time to create legal ways for some
said Monday the North’s contained cartoon imag- ever the North detonated refugees to leave overburdened host countries.
military has been sending es showing South Korean Grandi and his Jordanian hosts also discussed a po-
the balloons on a near- President Park Geun-hye underground will likely push tentially contentious issue — the fate of some 17,000
daily basis. Spokesman Kim wearing a bikini and falling refugees who have amassed on the Syrian-Jordanian
the country closer toward border, with numbers rising rapidly in recent months.
They are stranded in a remote desert area, and Jordan
a fully functional nuclear only admits several dozen each day after stringent se-
curity checks. UNHCR has warned that the refugees
arsenal, which it is still not face deteriorating conditions, including lack of ade-
quate shelter.
thought to have. The North Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Mo-
mani said Sunday that Jordan believes Islamic State
previously conducted supporters are among the refugees, many of whom
fled areas of Syria currently under IS control.
atomic bomb tests in 2006, Momani said Jordan’s security is a priority, suggesting
a change in the current admissions policy is unlikely.
2009 and 2013. He said aid workers are given access to the area and
that Jordan will fly the refugees to any country willing
South Korea, the U.S. and to accept them.q

other countries are push-

ing hard to get North Korea

punished over the bomb

test. Soon after the test,

diplomats at a U.N. Security

Council pledged to swiftly

pursue new sanctions on

the North. q