By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
A 53-year-old South Korean tourist to Mount Geumgang in North Korea was shot dead by a North Korean soldier, the Unification Ministry said Friday.
Hyundai Asan, the South's operator of the tourism program to the Stalinist state, will suspend the program from Saturday until investigations into the incident are completed, ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun told reporters.
President Lee Myung-bak called for a thorough investigation of the killing, his spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said.
The President also urged North Korea to fully cooperate in the probe.
Park Wang-ja, residing in Nowon-gu, Seoul, was shot twice in her chest and leg when running away from a military restricted zone, according to reports.
The tourist was strolling at a beach near the resort when the accident took place, the ministry spokesman said.
``According to Hyundai Asan, a North Korean soldier fired a gun because Park fled despite a warning shot to stop her in a restricted military zone,'' Kim said. ``We regret the incident and we will shelve the tour program from Saturday until a government probe is completed.''
She seemed to have entered the area restricted to civilians by mistake while taking a walk alone from Geumgang beach near her hotel at about 4:30 a.m., the spokesman said.
Vice Unification Minister Hong Yang-ho will lead a fact-finding team of related government offices.
Her body was brought to a hospital in Sokcho after a Hyundai Asan employee and the director of Geumgang hospital confirmed her identity, said Kim Jung-tae, director general of the ministry's Inter-Korean Exchanges and Cooperation Bureau.
Despite the tragedy, the ministry said that it never received any direct notification from the North Korean authorities.
The director general said ministry officials learned of the killing at around 11:30 a.m. after a phone call from the company.
Even though the tour program will be put on hold, Kim said other programs including trip to North Korean boarder city Gaeseong will continue.
Tourists staying at the mountain will continue their itinerary, he added.
The tour operator provides travelers to the secretive state with safety guidelines on which places and what behavior are prohibited.
The trip to the mountain was suspended for approximately 40 days in June 1999 because a female tourist was detained over her remarks on unification.
Park's neighbors expressed shock and grief over her death.
A teary-eyed 65-year-old female neighbor, who lives on the same floor of a Seoul apartment with Park, said, ``The news gave me goosebumps. It's unbelievable that an ordinary housewife was shot dead,'' according to Yonhap News.
They said Park was an ordinary housewife with a husband and a son.
She was a calm and friendly person who often exchanged greetings with neighbors, they said.
Park was the first South Korean to be shot dead during the tour.
Seoul said it will take appropriate measures when the outcome of the investigation is released, the Unification Ministry said.
Approximately 1,300 South Korean tourists are currently staying at the mountain resort, according to Hyundai Asan.
They will be allowed to return home in groups, it said.
Inter-Korean relations have fallen to their lowest ebb in years since President Lee took office in late February with a pledge to take a tougher stance on Pyongyang.
The North, in retaliation, cut governmental dialogue with the South, but civilian cooperation and exchange programs have continued without any problems.
ksy@koreatimes.co.kr
