By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter

A South-North direct communication channel, set up during the Kim Dae-jung administration in 2000, is no longer working, the death of a South Korean tourist at the Mount Geumgang tourism complex and its aftermath suggests.

The inter-Korean direct hotline reportedly included a telephone and fax link between the top leaders of South and North Korea, according to former Unification Minister Lim Dong-won.

Former Unification Minister Lim played a central role in devising the liberal, pro-engagement ``sunshine policy'' during former President Kim's presidency.

Lim recounted in ``Peacemaker,'' his new memoir published last month, that the South and the North had put together a direct communication channel following the first-ever inter-Korean summit in 2000. The hotline had been used by the two sides since then to facilitate coordination in dealing with regional emergencies, he said.

For instance, Seoul and Pyongyang used the direct line in June 2002, following a brief military clash involving naval vessels from the two sides. Pyongyang had reportedly sent a message to assure Seoul that the skirmish was an accident and that the North felt regret over the crisis.

The naval clash between the South and North Korean navies took place in the Yellow Sea. It resulted in the deaths of six South Korean sailors and more than a dozen North Korean soldiers. Due to the direct communication, the two sides could avoid misunderstanding and speculation.

But the latest inter-Korean crisis, involving what appears to be an accidental killing of a South Korean tourist at the Mount Geumgang resort, suggests that North Korean officials may now have abandoned the use of a direct hotline communication channel with the South.

Presidential office Cheong Wa Dae did not receive any direct communication from the North regarding the shooting incident. Instead, the North side first alerted Hyundai Asan, a subsidiary of the Hyundai conglomerate which operates the tourism business there, about the incident more than four hours after the shooting occurred. The company told the Ministry of Unification in Seoul about the killing a couple of hours later. The message was then relayed to the presidential office.

President Lee's administration had tried to telephone the North through Panmunjeom to learn more about the incident and to seek permission in sending an investigation team to the scene where the shooting occurred. But the North refused to even answer the phone.

A regional office in North Korea that oversees Geumgang tourism had issued a brief statement offering an ``expression of regret'' over the tourist's death. But it also condemned Seoul's decision to suspend further tourism activities in Mt. Geumgang, describing the move as an ``insult'' to North Korea.

Some two million South Korean tourists have visited the resort, generating millions of dollars in revenue for the North Korean government. The resort is located on the East Coast a few kilometers north of the demilitarized zone.

Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said over the weekend that South Korea is to be blamed for the incident and it demanded a ``clear apology'' from the Lee administration. ``The responsibility for the incident rests entirely with the south side,'' according to the KCNA. North Korea has yet to give South Korea's fact-finding team access to the shooting scene. The dead victim, Park Wang-Ja, 53, is the first tourist to be killed by the North side.

michaelha@koreatimes.co.kr