N. Korea wants discussions on removing S. Korean facilities at Mt. Geumgang
A portrait of North Korean leaders Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung is seen at Mount Kumgang resort in Kumgang September 1, 2011. Reuters
North Korea formally proposed discussions over the possible demolition of South Korean-made hotels and other tourist facilities at the North's Mount Geumgang (diamond) Resort that leader Kim Jong Un called “shabby” and “unpleasant looking,” according to officials in Seoul.
Pyongyang has been frustrated at the South's refusal to defy U.S.-led international sanctions and resume tours to the site.
Ministry of Unification spokesman Lee Sang-min said North Korea sent letters addressed to the government and the Hyundai business group Friday demanding that they send representatives to Mount Geumgan at an agreed upon date to clear out the facilities.
The letters, sent through an inter-Korean liaison office in the North's border town of Gaesong, said the Koreas should work out the details through document exchanges, rather than face-to-face meetings.
While protecting South Korean companies' property rights is the top priority of the government, it will also seek “creative solutions” to the problem based on political considerations and inter-Korean discussions, Lee said at a press conference Saturday.
He didn't elaborate on what the government Korea intends to do or whether it will consider razing any of the properties. Lee also wasn't clear on whether the administration would explore ways to restart the tours amid international sanctions on North Korea, but said a search for a solution may require discussions with Washington.
President Moon Jae-in told reporters at Cheoing Wa Dae that it would be difficult to conduct tours in the same way as before under current U.N. sanctions.
Lee said the North didn't issue a deadline for the South to remove the facilities. It's unclear what the government could do if the North starts destroying them.
“There's a need for a meeting between government officials,” he added.
Tours to Mount Geumgang were a major symbol of cooperation between the Koreas and a valuable cash source for the North's broken economy before the South suspended them in 2008 after a North Korean guard fatally shot a South Korean tourist.
With its hotels, restaurants, spas and golf course left in eerie silence, the resort now draws only a fraction of the 500,000 tourists projected to visit annually, costing South Korean investors millions of dollars.
During a visit to the site, Kim compared the properties to “makeshift tents in disaster-stricken areas” and ordered them to be replaced by modern North Korean facilities that display national character and fit better with the natural scenery. He criticized policies under his late father as too dependent on the South, while vowing that the North would redevelop the site on its own and fully control future tours, according to state media.
Kim took another jab at the South Korean buildings while inspecting the construction of a new spa resort in central North Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency said Friday. He said the “refreshing” buildings at the site were in striking contrast to Mount Geumgang's “architecture of capitalist businesses targeting profit-making from roughly built buildings.”
Seoul can't restart mass tours to Diamond Mountain or any other major inter-Korean economic activity without defying international sanctions against North Korea, which have been strengthened since 2016, when the North began accelerating its nuclear and missile tests.
While U.N. sanctions don't directly ban tourism, they prohibit bulk cash transfers which can result from business activities like the Geumgang tours.
Experts are divided over whether Pyongyang really intends to independently develop tourism there or is pressuring the South to restart the tours and upgrade the aging facilities.
Eager to revive economic engagement with its rival, South Korea last year proposed the lifting of some of its unilateral sanctions against the North, saying they were an obstacle to restarting tours to the resort. It quickly backed off after President Donald Trump bluntly retorted that Seoul could “do nothing” without Washington's approval.
Lee said a revival of tours to Mount Geumgang would require international support as well as the approval of the South Korean public.
Polls show South Koreans are becoming increasingly skeptical about the prospects of nuclear diplomacy with North Korea amid deadlocked disarmament talks between the U.S. and the North. Lee also said North Korea should provide stronger safety guarantees for any South Korean tourists. (AP)