Hyundai Group chairwoman extends N. Korea stay for 4th time

(ATTN: UPDATES with Seoul to approve stay, expert's view, background)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Aug. 15 (Yonhap) -- The chairwoman of South Korea's Hyundai Group extended
her stay in North Korea for a fourth time on Saturday, indicating she was still
waiting to meet with the country's leader Kim Jong-il.
Hyun Jung-eun traveled to North Korea Monday on what was supposed to be a
three-day mission to win the release of an employee detained there since March.
The Hyundai worker, Yu Seong-jin, was freed and returned home Thursday, but she
has delayed her return until Sunday in an apparent bid to resume Hyundai's
tourism and other suspended ventures in the North.
"Chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun's entourage has informed (the Seoul office) that they
will extend their stay by one day," Hyundai said in an e-mailed statement.
Hyundai's business ventures in the North remain suspended amid worsening
political relations between the two governments, which has pushed the group into
deep financial straits.
Hyundai's last-remaining joint venture, an industrial park in Kaesong, also faces
uncertainty as North Korea is demanding hefty hikes in wages and rent.
The Seoul government will approve Hyun's trip extension, its Unification Ministry
spokesman, Chun Hae-sung, said, adding that he had no information about why Hyun
was delaying her trip or if she would eventually be granted a meeting with the
North Korean leader.
Hyun met the North Korean leader in 2005 and 2007 during her visits to Pyongyang,
which led to important agreements on her group's cross-border ventures.
In a separate press release, Choi Kun-shik, head of the group's North Korea
business unit, Hyundai Asan Corp., said without elaborating that the chairwoman's
itinerary in North Korea "is proceeding smoothly and well."
There was no word in the North Korean media about the leader's activity on
Saturday. He was last reported to be on an inspection tour to an eastern town on
Thursday.
In an anniversary speech marking the Liberation Day, South Korean President Lee
Myung-bak offered massive economic aid and talks for arms reduction, but he
conditioned them on North Korea's denuclearization, signaling his hard-line
stance remains unchanged, a proposal already rejected by the North.
"Nuclear weapons do not guarantee North Korea's security. They darken its
future," Lee said.
North Korea is currently under international financial sanctions for its second
nuclear test in May. Hyundai's last-surviving venture in North Korea, the Kaesong
industrial park, is a rare source of cash for the impoverished North. Nearly $27
million was paid in wages alone last year.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor with the University of North Korea Studies in Seoul,
said Lee's anniversary speech must have disappointed North Korea, which
apparently expected Seoul to reciprocate its release of the Hyundai worker.
"There seems to be a gap between the gift Hyundai prepared and the gift Chairman
Kim Jong-il is ready to give, especially if Hyun's gift involves the South Korean
government's position," Yang said.
"Hyundai is desperate, and Kim may meet her out of sympathy, considering the long
history with the Hyundai family. But such a meeting would not lead to any
breakthrough," he said.
Hyundai Group has so far invested US$1.2 billion in North Korea. Its late founder
Chung Ju-yung, a native of what is now North Korea, drove 500 cattle across the
border into North Korea in 1998 in a symbolic gesture to open up business
relations.
His son who succeeded him in the group, Chung Mong-hun, took his own life in
2003 amid mounting deficits from the North Korea projects and an investigation
into an alleged payment to North Korea. Taking over her husband's position, Hyun
vowed to continue North Korea ventures despite their uncertain prospects.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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