Trips to Mt. Baekdu in NK Will Start in May
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Mount Baekdu in North Korea will be open to South Koreans starting May next year, with direct flights from Seoul to the mountain available, according to Hyundai Group.
Trips to the North Korean city of Gaeseong will also be available from next month.
Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun said the group and North Korea's Asia-Pacific Peace Committee agreed on the tourist programs and the group's exclusive right to run the business for 50 years at a press conference in Seoul Saturday upon returning from her visit to Pyongyang and meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
The direct air route between Seoul and Mount Baekdu, on the border between North Korea and China, was one of the agreements made between Kim and President Roh Moo-hyun during a summit meeting early October.
Currently, About 100,000 South Koreans per year climb the mountain from the Chinese side. The travel time via China is about nine hours.
Hyundai Asan CEO Yoon Man-joon said the air route has not been decided on and the company will leave it to the government as to whether South Korea's national flag carriers will fly to the North.
Yoon said about 200 travelers will be able to visit the mountain at a time, considering that hotels there can accommodate that number of people and that a B737 aircraft, which can take around 200 passengers, can land at the Samjiyeon Airport, the nearest airport to the mountain.
He said the company and the North will be able to complete preparation for the trips by May, including improving transportation and lodging there.
``Trips to the mountain are only available between May and October due to chilly weather there, but winter programs such as skiing are under consideration,'' Yoon said.
He said neither tour programs nor package prices have been decided yet. But it is expected the prices will be much lower than the 800,000 won to one million won spent when visiting the mountain via China. The travel time will also be cut largely to less than two hours.
In the case of Gaeseong, a one-day bus trip is highly likely, as the city is only two hours away from Seoul.
Travel agencies expect a boom of trips to Mount Baekdu and Gaeseong, besides the currently available tour to Mount Geumgang just above the border.
``Many people have already visited Mount Baekdu from the Chinese side, but the climbing course from the North Korean side will show different landscapes. We will also be able to provide more varied travel packages to foreign visitors to the South by including destinations in the North,'' a staff member of Hana Tour said.