ID :
32158
Tue, 11/25/2008 - 14:43
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/32158
The shortlink copeid
Hyundai Asan forced to halt all tour projects to North Korea
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with quotes, details; TRIMS)
SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean company operating businesses in North
Korea said Monday it will be forced to suspend its remaining tour program to the
North's western border city from next month amid deteriorating inter-Korean
relations.
North Korea delivered a message to Hyundai Asan Corp., the North Korean business
arm of South Korea's Hyundai Group, saying the tour program to the North's city
of Kaesong will be halted from Dec. 1, the company said.
The message from Ri Dok-su, a senior North Korean official in charge of the tour
program, came hours after the North's Korea Central News Agency reported that
Pyongyang will "selectively expel" South Koreans from the Kaesong resort from
next month, a retaliatory measure against the South Korean government's hard-line
stance against the North.
North Korea "will have no choice but to halt the Kaesong tour program from
December," Ri said in the message.
Ri said prospects for the North's business projects with Hyundai Asan "depend on
the South's attitude. The North hopes the current abnormal situation to be
swiftly resolved."
Hyundai Asan said it will suspend the one-day tour to Kaesong and withdraw all of
its staff from Dec. 1.
"We hope that South and North Korea will normalize inter-Korean businesses as
soon as possible," the company said in a statement.
The outlook for the inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong, where more than
80 South Korean plants employ about 35,000 North Korean workers, darkened as the
North Korean report on Monday confirmed that Pyongyang will cut off all
inter-Korean exchanges from Dec. 1, jeopardizing all three inter-Korean business
projects.
The first tour project to the North's Mt. Geumgang has been suspended since July,
when a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier.
The three business projects with the North were put into place by the two liberal
predecessors of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
Relations between the two Koreas have soured since President Lee Myung-bak took
office in February with a pledge to take a harder stance toward North Korea.
(END)
SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean company operating businesses in North
Korea said Monday it will be forced to suspend its remaining tour program to the
North's western border city from next month amid deteriorating inter-Korean
relations.
North Korea delivered a message to Hyundai Asan Corp., the North Korean business
arm of South Korea's Hyundai Group, saying the tour program to the North's city
of Kaesong will be halted from Dec. 1, the company said.
The message from Ri Dok-su, a senior North Korean official in charge of the tour
program, came hours after the North's Korea Central News Agency reported that
Pyongyang will "selectively expel" South Koreans from the Kaesong resort from
next month, a retaliatory measure against the South Korean government's hard-line
stance against the North.
North Korea "will have no choice but to halt the Kaesong tour program from
December," Ri said in the message.
Ri said prospects for the North's business projects with Hyundai Asan "depend on
the South's attitude. The North hopes the current abnormal situation to be
swiftly resolved."
Hyundai Asan said it will suspend the one-day tour to Kaesong and withdraw all of
its staff from Dec. 1.
"We hope that South and North Korea will normalize inter-Korean businesses as
soon as possible," the company said in a statement.
The outlook for the inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong, where more than
80 South Korean plants employ about 35,000 North Korean workers, darkened as the
North Korean report on Monday confirmed that Pyongyang will cut off all
inter-Korean exchanges from Dec. 1, jeopardizing all three inter-Korean business
projects.
The first tour project to the North's Mt. Geumgang has been suspended since July,
when a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier.
The three business projects with the North were put into place by the two liberal
predecessors of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
Relations between the two Koreas have soured since President Lee Myung-bak took
office in February with a pledge to take a harder stance toward North Korea.
(END)
