Korean reconciliation hopes boost DMZ tours

A tourist takes a photo of a sign at Woljeong-ri Station inside the Demilitarized Zone in Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province on April 25, 2018. The station was closed during the Korean War. / Yonhap

By Lee Suh-yoon

Local governments are promoting “peace-themed” tours along their border with North Korea amid the continuing peace overtures between the two Koreas.

Gangwon Province, which borders the eastern half of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), ran a familiarization tour of the DMZ for about 50 tourism industry representatives on Monday, in partnership with the state-led Korea Tourism Organization (KTO).

The provincial government hopes the continuing peace overtures and international spotlight on Korea since the April 27 summit will attract foreign tourists and revive the local economy.

The Monday tour centered on Cheorwon County, which is on the northwest corner of Gangwon Province and directly borders North Korea. Cherwon County is home to a peace observatory, the former Korean Workers' Party Headquarters, a closed railway station inside the DMZ, and a North Korean-built underground infiltration tunnel.

This is only one of numerous attempts by regional governments to attract more foreign tourists to the border. Earlier this month, Gangwon Province and the KTO hosted a series of DMZ tours for 200 foreign travel agents, people with social media influence, and exchange students.

Travel agencies that already provide similar tours say business has boomed since the inter-Korean summit.

“The number of people signing up for our DMZ tours has increased by 30 percent,“ said a spokesperson for DMZ Tours, a local agency that caters to foreign tourists.