Seoul seeking inter-Korean talks on traveler safety

SEOUL, Nov. 8 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is pushing to hold working-level
negotiations with North Korea to better guarantee the security of visitors to the
communist North, Seoul officials said Sunday.
The move comes as concern runs high over the safety of South Korean travelers to
the North following the shooting death of a South Korean tourist at a North
Korean mountain resort last year, which shut down cross-border tourism.
According to the officials, the government is considering proposing that the two
Koreas revise the current inter-Korean agreements to strengthen the security of
travelers to the historic city of Kaesong and Mount Kumkang, a scenic resort on
the North's east coast.
The Seoul government views tightened security measures as a prerequisite to the
resumption of tourist programs to the two areas, the officials said.
The timing for the proposal of the working-level talks, however, may hinge on the
development of inter-Korean relations and the North's nuclear disarmament, they
said.
The Mount Kumgang tour program, a cash cow business for the North, has been
shuttered since July last year, when a middle-aged female tourist was shot dead
by a North Korean soldier in an off-limits military zone beside the resort.
Another South Korean working in an industrial complex in the North's border town
of Kaesong was released in August after being detained for more than four months
for vilifying the North's regime.
South Korea's Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said in a parliamentary audit on
Friday he is making efforts to hold talks with the North to institutionalize
measures to guarantee the security of travelers to the North.
pbr@yna.co.kr
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