US tourists to visit Mt. Geumgang

By Kim Young-jin

A U.S.-based travel agency plans to take tourists to the Mt. Geumgang resort in North Korea next week, the site of a stalled inter-Korean tourism project, after having consulted with a South Korean firm involved there, its president said.

Walter Keats, president of Asia Pacific Travel LTD (APTL), said his company would bring its first group of tourists to the scenic resort Monday. He added it was paying a fee to Hyundai Asan, the South Korean operator of the stalled project.

He stressed that APTL has no plans to invest in or develop the site. It is slated to use facilities including the Kumgangsan Hotel, once run by the South Korean firm.

“What we are doing now is adding a ‘stop’ on some of our North Korea tours that will include one or more nights in Kumgang,” Keats said via email, using the North Korean spelling of the mountain. “We have no ‘contract’ or ‘investment’ in Kumgang.”

Foreigners visiting the mountain used to have to stay in Wonsan, about 1.5 hours away by car.

Hyundai Asan is the main investor in the project that has become a source of controversy between the two governments since a South Korean tourist was shot to death there in 2008, when she wandered into an area the North said was a military zone.

“We are in contact with officials at Hyundai Asan who are aware of our activities, who understand the situation, and are not objecting to them,” Keats said.

“In addition when we use facilities in Kumgang, we will pay a fee to Hyundai Asan, in addition to what we pay to North Korea, reflecting our support for Hyundai Asan and its pioneering work in North Korea.”

For the two Koreas, it remains a thorny issue.

The North recently expelled the last remaining South Korean workers from the site and said it would legally dispose of South Korean assets under a new plan to set up a special zone for international tours at the mountain.

Seoul says the move breaches inter-Korean agreements and those between Pyongyang and Hyundai Asan and that it will use diplomatic channels to protect South Korean assets there.

The South wants a formal apology and security measures before tours resume, tackling concerns the North says it has addressed.

The North has been active over the site in recent weeks.

Last month, reports said that North Korea had reopened the hotel as well as a restaurant once operated by Hyundai Asan. Last week, it launched a test run of a cruise from the northeastern city of Rajin, inviting foreign tourists and journalists. Reports said Malaysian and Australian tourists were seen at the resort.

The sides launched the joint tour program in 1998 as part of moves to foster reconciliation and cooperation. The project provided a source of hard currency to the North.

Keats, who has been visiting the South since 1972 and the North since 1995, said that for APTL, the stop at Geumgang was simply another destination in North Korea and that the agency remained in steadfast support of Hyundai Asan’s efforts.

“It is not correct to say we are offering ‘Kumgang tours,’ if the implication is that we are offering a replacement to the Hyundai Asan tours that operated successfully for over a decade,” he said.