Hyundai Asan calls for better ties with N. Korea

(ATTN: Please note the new spelling Mount Kumgang in para 5. The change from
Geumgang to Kumgang is in conformity with North Korean Romanization)
SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Yonhap) -- Hyundai Asan Corp., a South Korean company operating
businesses in North Korea, asked its government Thursday to take a "bold step" to
improve relations with the North, amid worsening inter-Korean ties that have seen
the company suspend tour programs to the communist neighbor.
In a letter signed by hundreds of employees at Hyundai Asan, the company also
called for the South Korean government to provide financial support to keep its
businesses afloat.
Major inter-Korean economic projects, run by Hyundai Asan on behalf of the South
Korean government, are facing an uncertain future after North Korea took a series
of retaliatory steps against the South's hard-line policy toward it.
This week, North Korea started restricting cross-border traffic with the South
after halting two reconciliation projects, tours to the North's ancient border
city of Kaesong and a regular cargo train service between the heavily armed
border of the two Koreas.
Tours to Mount Kumgang on the North Korean east coast, the first North
destination opened to tourists in 1998, have also been halted since July when a
South Korean tourist was fatally shot dead by a North Korean soldier.
The South Korean government "needs to take a bold and epochal step to swiftly
normalize relations with North Korea," Hyundai Asan said in a statement.
Inter-Korean relations have soured since conservative President Lee Myung-bak
took office in South Korean in February, with a pledge to get tough on Pyongyang.

Lee has said South Korea would help North Korea only when the communist regime
gives up its nuclear ambitions.
In response, North Korea has accused the government of President Lee of failing
to live up to two summit agreements reached by his two liberal predecessors that
call for massive investment in the North.
(END)