S Korea's Unification Minister Visits MT. Kumgang to Back Tourism Program
09.12.2006, 17:55
In an apparent bid to invigorate its sagging cross-border tourism business, South Korea's outgoing Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok made a two-day visit early this week to North Korea's scenic resort Mt. Kumgang, which has been criticized by the United States and some conservative forces in the South.
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Lee's trip also came amid the chilly inter-Korean relations following Pyongyang's missile test-firing in July and underground nuclear detonation on Oct. 9.
Observers in Seoul said Lee's visit was aimed at rallying support for the cross-border tourism program. He was the highest-ranking South Korean official to visit the South Korean-developed tourist destination since the North's nuclear test.
His visit was to meet South Korean officials and businesspeople, but it followed Washington's intensified criticism of the tourism program.
The U.S. had long opposed the program, but never too explicitly. It asked the Seoul government to halt the project after Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear weapons test.
Amid the criticism, the South Korean government decided in October to suspend its financial assistance for the controversial tours to Mt. Kumgang.
Nevertheless, Seoul officials said the government will maintain the project despite cutting off the subsidies.
However, Seoul officials said the suspension of financial assistance was believed to fall far short of what Washington had expected to see, since it would only lead to a cutback of several million dollars in the nearly US$1 billion project.
Although the South Korean government has stopped paying the subsidies, there were no addition steps to restrict or discourage trips to the mountain.
The officials said there is really not much the government can do about the project because it is run by a private business.
U.S. officials have had a negative view of the cross-border tourism project. The Mt. Kumgang tourism program appears to be "designed to give money to North Korean authorities," Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said while traveling here in October. Hill represents Washington in international negotiations on North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Seoul remained taciturn toward the U.S. demand, only taking what U.S. critics called "eyewash measures." While at the North Korean resort on Dec. 6 the unification minister said, however, the tourism program must continue.
"We must never take a break from trying to ease tensions between the North and South Korea, no matter how difficult the times and conditions are," Lee said.
"In that sense, these projects must continue to be developed and widened."
Seoul was never expected to halt the tourism program, but the minister's remarks come amid international efforts to punish the North for its nuclear test. Shortly after the test, the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution that prohibited the transfer to North Korea of financial resources or assets that can benefit its nuclear and weapons of mass destruction programs.
Millions of dollars have been paid to Pyongyang since the Mt. Kumgang resort opened in 1998, and Hyundai Asan, the South Korean developer of the resort, pays an average of US$1 million a month to the North Korean committee in admission fees for South Koreans traveling there.
The South Korean government claims the money is unlikely to be used for the North's nuclear or WMD programs, though it admits there is no way of knowing for certain. The U.N. Security Council has yet to decide whether Seoul's continuing support for the Mt. Kumgang tourism program runs counter to its North Korea sanctions resolution.
"I believe no one can dispute the positive effects that the Mt. Kumgang tourism program and the Kaesong industrial complex project have had on North-South relations," Lee said. The unification minister has offered to step down from his Cabinet post and is expected to be replaced next week by Lee Jae-joung, senior vice chairman of the presidential National Unification Advisory Council.
Nearly 400,000 South Koreans a year travel to the Mt. Kumgang resort, where Hyundai Asan has 211 South Korean and 688 Korean-Chinese employees. The number of tourists were expected to fall far below 270,000 this year, according to the South Korean developer.
Meanwhile, North Korea on Nov. 1 warned against South Korea's changes to the inter-Korean tourism program, saying it would take stern measures.
"Foul attempts are under way in the South by the Grand National Party (GNP) to destroy the Mt. Kumgang tourism project, which is a symbol of North-South economic cooperation," a spokesman for the North's Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee said in a statement carried by the country's Korean Central News Agency.
"We will always treasure the hopes and wishes of South Korean people toward Mt. Kumgang, but we make it clear that we would have no choice but to sternly take corresponding measures if an irreversible situation is created by the GNP," he said.
The statement follows claims by the opposition GNP that proceeds from the Mt. Kumgang tourism project could be helping the North's nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction programs.
The GNP proposed to cut currency inflows to North Korea by paying the fees and wages in goods instead of cash, but the North said the idea "is not even worth mentioning."
"The GNP, which puts the interests of foreign forces before those of the nation and tries to realize its scheme to take power by violating the nation's interests, will pay a high price," the spokesman said, adding the country will closely watch South Korea's moves.