Koreas

North lifts border restrictions to allow tourism

Article published on the 2009-08-17 Latest update 2009-08-17 15:56 TU

A visitor looks at a village in North Korea's Kaepoong county on Monday through binoculars from a South Korean observation post near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas
(Photo: Reuters)

South Korea has cautiously welcomed North Korea's decision on Monday to lift border restrictions and restart a stalled tourism programme for South Koreans. The agreement was reached in Pyongyang between communist leader Kim Jong-Il and Hyundai chairwoman Hyun Jung-Eun.

In a rare conciliatory gesture after months of bitter hostility, North Korea said tours to the scenic Mount Kumgang resort on the east coast and to Kaesong, a historic city near the west coast, would resume as soon as possible.

All inter-Korean tourism and business projects are run by a Hyundai subsidiary. Hyun, the company’s chief, said on her return Monday that she had not consulted the Seoul government before her trip.

Although upbeat, South Korea said the two governments must hold talks before the trips - a major earner for its sanctions-hit neighbour - could resume. Unification ministry spokesman, Chun Hae-Sung, said the decision was “an agreement reached at a civilian level”.

“We need concrete accords to be worked out through talks between the authorities of the two Koreas to implement this agreement,” he said. "The government will make active efforts to reach the accords between the authorities... as early as possible."

Seoul suspended tours to Kumgang after North Korean soldiers in July 2008 shot dead a South Korean housewife who strayed into a military zone. Pyongyang in December halted day trips to Kaesong and limited access to a joint industrial estate there as ties worsened.

An analyst on the Koreas, Aidan Foster-Carter, told RFI the agreement was a sign that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il was showing his muscle after poor health.

"While they are still bad-mouthing the South Korean President, a private citizen, the head of the Hyundai conglomerate, goes up there and gets the release of one of their workers who they have been holding totally illegally for about four months," Foster-Carter said.

"And Kim Jong-Il, dispensing favours, says 'sure we’ll open the borders, sure we’ll have family reunions, sure we can have tourism again', but it isn’t as easy as this – the South have a say in this."

 

Chun repeated Seoul's demand that Pyongyang allow a joint investigation of the killing at Kumgang. The shooting case had been raised during the four-hour meeting with Kim at the Mount Myohyang resort, Hyun said.

"Chairman Kim said that there would never be such a thing in the future," Hyun said. She also indicated that four crewmen on a South Korean fishing boat, detained on 30 July after an accidental border crossing, could also be freed.

On France 24 TV  South cautiously welcomes North’s offer to ease border travel