Seoul proposes talks with N. Korea over suspended tour programs

SEOUL, Jan. 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Monday proposed holding talks with
North Korea early next month to discuss ways to resume suspended tourism programs
to the communist nation's Mount Kumgang and Kaesong city, an official at Seoul's
unification ministry said.

"The government proposed holding working-level talks on Mount Kumgang and Kaesong
tourism programs on Feb. 8 in a message signed by the unification minister to Kim
Yang-gon, director of the Central Committee of North Korea's Workers' Party," the
ministry told reporters.
Kaesong city was capital of the Koryo Dynasty (A.D. 918-1392).
As the director of the North Korean party's department of unification, Kim
currently works as Pyongyang's point man on inter-Korean issues.
Seoul, meanwhile, rejected North Korea's proposal to hold immediate military
talks over border restrictions, saying the talks should come after the
discussions on their joint venture are concluded.
North Korea had last week proposed holding military talks on Jan. 26 to discuss
restrictions hindering South Korean transportation and communications in and out
of a joint factory park in Kaesong.
Seoul has long demanded that Pyongyang ease restrictions concerning customs
clearance and passage of South Korean workers and communications in and out of
the border complex, where some 110 South Korean firms employ 42,000 skilled local
workers for low wages.
The mountain tourism program was suspended in 2008 shortly after a female South
Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean guard.
(END)

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