Hyundai chief due home following trip to N. Korea

SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- The chairwoman of South Korea's Hyundai Group was due
to return later Sunday from a week-long trip to North Korea, group officials
said, amid no sign of a meeting with the North's leader Kim Jong-il.
Hyun Jung-eun traveled to North Korea on Monday for what was initially 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 Hyun
extended her trip four times, apparently waiting for a meeting with Kim.
"The last message we got yesterday was she would return today, so we believe that
is effective until we get a new call," Kim Ha-young, a spokesman with Hyundai
Asan Corp., the group's North Korea business unit, said.
Hyundai has been in dire financial shape since its joint ventures in North Korea
hit a snag last year amid worsening political relations between Seoul and
Pyongyang.
Chances of an imminent breakthrough appear dim. In an anniversary speech marking
Liberation Day on Saturday, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak reiterated his
hardline policy over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, conditioning economic
aid on its denuclearization.
North Korea, meanwhile, has warned of a "merciless retaliation" as South Korea
and the United States begin a joint military exercise next week.
Hyundai said they expected the chairwoman to return later in the afternoon, but
did not rule out the possibility that she could extend her trip again.
North Korean media made no mention of Kim's activities on Sunday. He was last
reported to be on a provincial inspection tour on Thursday. Hyun met Kim in 2005
and 2007 during visits to Pyongyang to discuss Hyundai's North Korea ventures.
In a rare conciliatory move last week, North Korea released the Hyundai worker
who was accused of criticizing its political system. His release came days after
U.S. former President Bill Clinton flew into Pyongyang to meet with Kim and win
the release of two detained American journalists.
Hyundai Group has so far invested US$1.2 billion in North Korea. Seoul suspended
Hyundai's Mount Kumgang tour last year after a North Korean soldier shot dead a
South Korean tourist who strayed into a military area.
Hyundai's last-remaining joint venture, an industrial park in the North's border
town of Kaesong, also faces uncertainty as North Korea is demanding hefty hikes
in wages and rent.
The Kaesong park is a rare source of cash for the impoverished North currently
under international financial sanctions and a trade embargo for its second
nuclear test in May. More than US$26 million was paid in wages alone last year.

hkim@yna.co.kr
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