Seoul rejects students' N. Korea trip request amid missile tension

SEOUL, Feb. 27 (Yonhap) -- The Seoul government has decided not to approve a planned visit to North Korea by a group of South Korean students, a spokesman said Friday, amid heightened tension surrounding the North's missile activity.

In a rare move, the Unification Ministry rejected a request by the three student
activists seeking to visit North Korea from Saturday until Wednesday next week.
The students are members of a South Korean civic committee aimed at implementing
inter-Korean summit accords. They were scheduled to meet their North Korean
counterparts in Pyongyang to discuss annual celebrations for the June 15 summit
agreement reached in 2000 between then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
"The government decided to withhold approval, considering the students' previous
activities and the current state of inter-Korean relations," ministry spokesman
Kim Ho-nyoun told reporters.
It is very rare for Seoul to reject a small-scale civic visit to North Korea.
According to sources, officials had taken into account the students' past visits
to North Korea, in which they were particularly critical of Seoul's policy
towards Pyongyang.
Officials were also wary of giving approval due to North Korea's alleged missile
preparations, the sources said.
A day earlier, Pyongyang said that it will go ahead with its launch of an
"experimental communications satellite." South Korean and U.S. officials believe
North Korea is actually preparing to test-fire its Taepodong-2 ballistic missile,
which in theory is capable of striking Alaska or Hawaii.
Kim Myong-gil, minister at North Korea's United Nations mission in New York, told
South Korean correspondents on Thursday, "We will go ahead with the satellite
launch."
After a nuclear forum in Atlanta, Kim said, "We will have to see when it will
be," adding the launch is non-negotiable as part of "our sovereign right."
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)