Hyundai Group chief on way to Pyongyang over detained worker: sources

SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- The chief of Hyundai Group was expected to visit
Pyongyang on Monday to discuss the release of an employee who has been detained
by North Korea since March, sources said.

Speculation has been growing that North Korea may free the worker, only
identified by his surname Yu, within the week, in line with its recent pardoning
of two American journalists granted during former U.S. President Bill Clinton's
visit, opening a diplomatic channel between the two countries.
Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun "recently proposed her Pyongyang visit to
discuss the matter of Mr. Yu and received North Korean approval," one of the
informed sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity
of the issue. Hyun will travel by land over the demilitarized zone, the sources
said.
The South Korean worker with Hyundai Asan Corp., the North Korea business arm of
Hyundai Group, was detained on March 30 at a joint industrial park in the North's
border town of Kaesong where he had been working for years.
In a May 1 statement, North Korea said an investigation was underway, saying Yu
"malignantly slandered the dignified system in the DPRK (North Korea) ...
perpetrating grave acts of infringement upon the sovereignty of the DPRK and in
violation of the relevant law."
Seoul officials said they also heard from North Korea that Yu was accused of
trying to persuade a local woman to defect to the South.
In contrast to the American journalists who were allowed phone calls to family
and consular contact, North Korea has not granted any outside access to Yu during
his detention.
The informed sources said it was yet to be decided whether the visiting Hyundai
chief will be granted an audience with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as she was
during her Pyongyang visit in 2007.
Unification Ministry officials said they could not comment on Hyun's expected trip.
Also on Monday, Cho Kun-shik, the chief of Hyundai Asan and Yu's direct boss, was
scheduled to travel to the Kaesong industrial park, company officials said.
Hyundai is the major developer of the Kaesong park, which was opened in late 2004
marrying South Korean technology and capital with North Korean labor. More than
100 South Korean firms operate there with about 40,000 North Korean workers,
producing clothing, kitchenware, electronic equipment and other labor-intensive
goods. Yu's detention has chilled business sentiment there.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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