The photographs of Aylan Kurdi, a 3-year-old Syrian boy who washed up on a Turkish shore after drowning in the sea, tore at the hearts and consciences of people around the world and got several European countries to take immediate action.

More than 4 million Syrians have left their homeland to flee the four-year civil war there while some 7 million Syrians are displaced internally. According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Gutteres, this is the biggest refugee population from a single conflict in a generation.

A growing number of Syrian refugees are moving toward Europe, as far north as Scandinavia in search of a better life, away from destruction and daily threats to life. Turkey, Italy, and Greece have seen large influxes of the refugees with Turkey holding the highest number at 1.8 million. Other countries where Syrian refugees have sought shelter include Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

The photos of the lifeless little boy raised such a public outcry in Britain that the government, which had previously said it did not have room for more refugees, announced that Prime Minister David Cameron had decided that the country would accept thousands more Syrian refugees.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened her country’s doors to Syrian refugees first by announcing late last month that it would not apply the Dublin Protocol to Syrian refugees. Under the protocol, refugees must register asylum claim in the first EU country they reach. Germany expects to take in 800,000 people this year, four times as many as it did last year.

The European Union must devise a mechanism for dealing with the influx of Syrian refugees as well as refugees from other war-torn countries. Formulating a unified response to the crisis will not be simple as EU member states have expressed different concerns about accepting refugees, with some countries claiming that many of the refugees are economic migrants and as such care must be taken to accept only genuine refugees. Some European countries, especially Eastern European states, worry about the influx of large Muslim population into their “Christian cultures.” Some argue that accepting displaced Muslims may result in increased terrorist incidents in their countries.

While Germany’s Merkel is calling for refugee quotas for EU countries that would distribute the burden evenly among the member states, countries in the Americas and Australia could also accept more Syrian refugees.

On Sunday, Pope Francis called upon “every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary in Europe” to take in a refugee family, describing their plight as an issue for Christians everywhere. Indeed, religious differences should have no room in the unfolding humanitarian crisis.

Gutteres of UNHCR said that the crisis was manageable, although the European system was “deeply dysfunctional.” Indeed, the temporary opening of the borders is not a long-term solution. On Wednesday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is expected to present a plan to relocate 120,000 people from Italy, Greece and Hungary who are stretched to the limit, with Germany, France and Spain accepting them.

As the crisis unfolds in Europe, Korea should think about how it can contribute. While two Syrians have been granted refugee status so far, a more practical measure can be taken in the form of greater assistance for countries such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan in supporting the Syrian refugees.

It is pertinent, also, for the government to think about the possibility of a mass exodus of North Korean refugees as the economic and political situation worsens there. The government should review its plans for such a possibility so that the lives of the refugees are not jeopardized and that South Koreans are able to accept them with open arms, as we have seen German citizens do. More immediately, Seoul must urge China against repatriating North Korean refugees who are fleeing extreme poverty, granting them safe passage to South Korea.