Hyundai Asan chief visiting N. Korea over detained worker

(ATTN: UPDATES with quotes from official, Hyundai Asan spokesman, detail)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, April 3 (Yonhap) -- The chief of Hyundai Asan Corp., which operates joint
economic ventures in North Korea, traveled there on Friday to discuss the early
release of an employee detained for allegedly denouncing the North Korean regime,
a Seoul official said.

Cho Kun-shik, president of Hyundai Asan, is making a one-day trip to the North
Korean border town of Kaesong, where the employee has been detained, said
Ministry of Unification spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo.
The Hyundai worker, a man in his 40s, was taken into custody at the joint
industrial complex in Kaesong on Monday for allegedly criticizing the North's
political system and encouraging a female North Korean employee to defect.
Several South Korean workers and tourists have been detained and investigated in
past years for violating North Korean law, but the latest case raises concern as
it comes ahead of the North's rocket launch, which may occur as early as
Saturday.
North Korea has continued to refuse Seoul's request to access the detained
worker, the spokeswoman said.
"(Cho) is basically visiting North Korea to discuss the detained worker with the
North Koreans, but neither his schedule nor whom he will be meeting with has been
decided yet," Lee said.
Cho is expected to meet with North Korean management officials in Kaesong and ask
them to allow him to access the detained worker, said Kim Ha-young, a spokesman
for Hyundai Asan, a unit of Hyundai Group.
Seoul officials could not give details of the worker's alleged violation,
although some sources said the breach was more personal than political.
According to an inter-Korean accord governing joint economic ventures, North
Korea can only investigate and fine or expel South Koreans violating its law. It
cannot try them in its territory, but concerns have been raised that North Korea
may ignore the accord and put him to trial.
The North is also preparing to indict two U.S. journalists being held on charges
of illegal entry and unspecified "hostile acts."
Analysts in Seoul say the release of the U.S. reporters and the South Korean is
not likely to occur before the North launches what it claims is a communications
satellite between April 4 and 8.
In Kaesong, just an hour's drive from Seoul, 101 small garment and other
labor-intensive South Korean firms are currently operating at the South
Korea-funded industrial complex, which employs about 39,000 North Koreans.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)