By Kim Young-jin
Officials from Hyundai Asan, the organizer of the stalled inter- Korean tourism project, crossed into North Korea Friday to observe the anniversary of the death of late Hyundai Group Chairman Chung Mong-hun.
The 14 officials, led by President Chang Kyung-chak, entered in the morning through the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) office near the East Sea and traveled to the Mt. Geumgang resort to hold a brief ceremony for Chung.
Hyundai Asan, the group’s arm for inter-Korean projects, has held memorial services for the late chairman there every year since he jumped to his death from the company’s Seoul headquarters in 2003. The staunch proponent of business cooperation between the Korea’s requested his ashes be scattered at Mt. Geumgang.
The delegation, which did not include Hyundai Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun, the widow of the late chairman, was expected to inspect the firm’s assets at the resort, which it developed as a reconciliation project but were halted after a deadly 2008 shooting incident.
Tours to the mountain once brought South Koreans to facilities developed under an exclusive deal between the North and Hyundai Asan. But Seoul pulled out after a tourist was shot dead for crossing a boundary into a military area.
Pyongyang, frustrated over the loss of a cash cow, said last year it would legally dispose of the facilities and would establish a zone for international tours.
Seoul believes the North’s moves breach inter-Korean agreements and those with Hyundai Asan and wants a security guarantee before the project resumes.
The firm was mum on whether it would hold talks with North Korean officials over possible measures to resume South Korean tours to the mountain.
Hyun, during a separate ceremony in the South said only that she hoped the tours would restart by next year.
The use of the facilities has been unclear since the North last year expelled the last remaining South Korean workers at the site. Since then, it has allowed a monthly cruise ship to dock nearby from the northeastern city of Rajin expected to bring Chinese tourists.
The North has rejected working- level talks to discuss pending inter-Korean issues, officials say.
Pyongyang says it has done enough to dispel concerns and blames the conservative Lee Myung-bak administration for the holdup.Recent international visitors to the site said they were allowed to use someHyundaideveloped facilities such as a hotel, spa and gift shops but added thattourism there seemed sparse.