North Korean Propaganda Is Being BalloonDropped Into the South Ahead of Olympics
Flyers bearing North Korean propaganda were discovered Saturday in the mountains near Seoul, Reuters reports, citing a North Korea specialist news website, urging people to welcome their "guests from Pyongyang" as the Winter Olympics draw near. North Korea will be represented at the games by a delegation including the country's ceremonial head of state, a pop music icon and 12 ice hockey players who will join the South Korean women's squad. The leaflets feature images of Olympic mascots Soohorang and Bandabi  a cartoon white tiger and black bear  saying "Let's go to Kaesong! Let's go to Mount Kumgang!", Kaesong may refer to the now-shuttered industrial park just north of the Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, that separates the North from the South. Mount Kumgang was a joint tourism venture, mothballed in 2008 after a North Korean guard shot a South Korean tourist there. The flyers also extended welcome greetings to "North Korean athletes, cheerleaders, journalists, Taekwondo display team, and performance artists.", Read more High Hopes for Talks as North Korea Prepares to Send a Top Official to the Olympics, According to Reuters, the leaflets were likely dropped from balloons  a delivery mechanism Seoul also uses to dispatch foreign news and other propaganda north of the DMZ.