(LEAD) S. Korean business officials in N. Korea to save jeopardized assets

(ATTN: UPDATES with crossing; CHANGES slug to clarify those entering N. Korea;
RECASTS lead, headline; ADDS context in paras 2-3, ministry comment in paras 4, 6,
background in penultimate para)
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, March 25 (Yonhap) -- A group of South Korean company officials traveled to
North Korea Thursday to save their already-dormant tourism businesses in the
communist country, after Pyongyang threatened to seize their properties to
pressure Seoul into resuming lucrative cross-border tours.

Their trip came amid concerns that the North may announce it would unilaterally
terminate all deals on a cross-border tourism project to Mount Kumgang on its
east coast or freeze all southern assets in the mountain resort unless Seoul
agrees to resume the lucrative tours.
Such measures would be yet another setback to the already-troubled tourism
program that was once hailed as a prominent symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation
that had boomed following the first-ever summit of the countries' leaders in
2000. Ties between the two sides frayed in 2008 as Pyongyang strongly protested
Seoul's policy of linking aid to progress in the North's denuclearization.
On Thursday, 16 officials from eight companies, including the tours' main
operator Hyundai Asan, crossed the heavily fortified border at around 9:30 a.m.,
the Unification Ministry said.
Last week, North Korea summoned company officials running the mountain resort to
gather for a survey of their properties, threatening to confiscate the companies'
real estate at the resort, including hotels and a golf course, if the officials
failed to show up.
"We will determine our response to the North after hearing from the officials
what the North has told them," Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung told reporters,
adding they are expected to return at 3:30 p.m.
Three officials from the state-run Korea Tourism Organization had already entered
the communist country Wednesday for their own inspection of tourism facilities
ahead of the survey.
Tours to the resort just north of the border were abruptly halted in 2008 after a
South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier guarding a
restricted zone.
No South Korean government officials accompanied the businesspeople visiting the
North this week, Chun said.
South Korea says the tours will not resume until the North officially apologizes,
allows a joint on-site probe into the shooting and makes full state-to-state
promises for tourist protection.
The North, which claims it has done everything to relieve doubts and concerns,
says the tours should resume as early as possible or else it will seek a new
partner.
Analysts say the North may be clearing the way for Chinese tour operators to set
up businesses at the mountain, noting Pyongyang has been in dire need of foreign
currency after tough U.N. sanctions for its nuclear test cramped its arms exports
and foreign investments.
Nearly 2 million South Koreans visited the scenic mountain within a decade until
the suspension in 2008, providing the sanctions-hit North with hard currency. An
incipient joint tour project to the ancient city of Kaesong near the west coast
has also been halted since late 2008 amid deteriorating inter-Korean relations.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)

Delete & Prev | Delete & Next