South Korea residents on border with North fear spike in tensions
South Korean army soldiers pass by the barbed-wire fence in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, April 19. AP-Yonhap When North Korea sent hundreds of balloons carrying trash over the border to South Korea last week, the move sparked emergency alerts and round-the-clock media coverage in its neighbor. But while many South Koreans likely did not linger for too long on the incident, for residents living near the heavily fortified border, it was just the latest in a worrying rise in tensions between the Koreas. "Some people consider it a problem for someone else's neighborhood," said Yoon Seol-hyun, who owns a guesthouse and a travel agency in the border town of Paju, urging all South Koreans to pay attention and help do more to calm the situation. Friction has been increasing as the South responded to the balloons by resuming military activities along the demarcation line. Seoul has not ruled out the return of loudspeakers to blast propaganda at the border with the North. The border area is popular with local and foreign tourists keen to take a peek at the isolated North, but Yoon said his business in Paju, which is about 35 km north of the capital Seoul, had been hurt by the rise in tensions. No Hyun-ki, 60, another Paju resident, is also worried about the recent tit-for-tat retaliation between the Koreas. "Then there's no choice... but to have a sense of fear that North Korea's artillery might fly towards this place," said No, describing Paju as "the tensest city". The two Koreas remain technically at war since an armistice agreement ended fighting in the 1950-1953 Korean War. Their militaries face off across the inter-Korean border and North Korea has deployed missiles and rockets aimed at the South and routinely threatens to annihilate its neighbor. North Korea has said it will suspend sending trash balloons but vowed to resume the practice if leaflets critical of the country were flown from the South again. Nonetheless, North Korean defector and activist Park Sang-hak has vowed to keep sending balloons carrying anti-North Korean leaflets unless the North's leader Kim Jong-un apologizes for his "wrongdoings". Park could not immediately be reached for comment, but a statement on his civic group's website said it had sent 20 balloons carrying 300,000 leaflets and 2,000 USB cards containing K-pop and Korean dramas into the North in early May. South Korea's Unification Ministry which handles relations with the North said in a statement it was monitoring the issue of sending leaflets over the border, though noted that the practice was protected by freedom of speech. Sending anti-North Korean leaflets across the border has been controversial in South Korea, prompting at times clashes between activists and residents in border towns over the years. "What residents in Paju will like such actions that escalate tensions?" said Yoon, who said he works with other locals to try to block balloon launches. (Reuters)
相关推荐
-
17 Places That Harness the Power of the Sun
-
Trump pardons Anthony Levandowski, who stole trade secrets from Google
-
Nancy Pelosi, Jerry Nadler, and the Democrats should do something about Trump at some point.
-
我市疫情期间临时停止部分诊疗工作
-
21 College and University Museums
-
The late Jacques Chirac wasn’t a great president, but we can still learn from him.
- 最近发表
-
- How 3D Game Rendering Works: Texturing
- NRA Senate report: Leaders exchanged influence for business contacts with Russians.
- N. Korea’s denial of arms transfers to Russia suggests fears of tougher sanctions: experts
- Woods huddling with PGA players over LIV split
- Alcaraz, Sinner survive US Open wobbles
- Morata double fires Atletico to opening win
- 公共场所这样的坐姿不文明
- ‘I couldn’t sleep,’ defector says of images of North Koreans resisting deportation
- NASA rover snaps photo of its most daunting challenge yet
- Snapchat says it'll start letting users change their usernames
- 随机阅读
-
- Apple finally sends out payments for MacBook's butterfly keyboard settlement
- Google most used search engine in North Korea: data
- 2016 Flagship GPU vs 2022 Budget GPU
- 'Horizon Forbidden West' review: Gaming's best end
- Naver, Kakao strive to combat deepfake porn spreading online
- 医护人员坚守200多小时 我市首诊患者病情好转
- Three talking points from EPL weekend
- How to start playing 'Dota 2'
- Black Friday GPU Buying Guide: November GPU Pricing Update
- Dueling images of the People’s Republic of China at 70: pageantry in Beijing, violence in Hong Kong.
- Here's everything that happened at CES 2021
- Google's mobile search is getting a makeover for the new year
- From Prairie Grasslands to Man
- Liquid salt greases wheels of high
- 雅安六名爱心人士载着捐赠的50吨新鲜蔬菜直奔武汉
- A Surveillance Primer: 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes, 14 Eyes
- Tesla issues recall for 9,100 Model X cars
- 医护人员坚守200多小时 我市首诊患者病情好转
- Moon's aide told Kim Jong
- NRA Senate report: Leaders exchanged influence for business contacts with Russians.
- 搜索
-
- 友情链接
-