| Leaflets launched into N. Korea |
IMJINGAK (South Korea) South Korean activists launched leaflets attacking North Korea’s leader across the world’s last Cold War frontier, marking Monday’s 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Newspapers urged Seoul’s government to prepare in case the closely guarded frontier collapses as suddenly as the inter-German barrier did in 1989.
Communist North and capitalist South have been divided for more than half a century by minefields, barbed-wire fences and guard posts, leaving tens of thousands of families separated from loved ones.
About a dozen Christian activists at Imjingak 40km northwest of Seoul floated a large balloon carrying about 2,500 leaflets over the frontier. The Korea Herald said: “Just as the fall of the Berlin Wall took the West Germans off guard, so may the collapse of the border fences come as a surprise to the South Koreans,” it said, noting Kim’s recent ill health.
“A key question here is whether or not South Korea is as well prepared for reunification as West Germany was. The answer is a resounding ‘no.’”
The Herald noted South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s proposal to help the North raise its per capita gross domestic product to $3,000 during the next decade if it abandons its nuclear ambitions.
“He apparently believes reunification is unimaginable until then,” its editorial said.
“But what if the Kim Jong-il regime should collapse now? How should South Korea fund the reunification cost, which researchers say would be astronomical?”
Agence France-Presse
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