By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
The government is considering punishing Hyundai Asan, the operator of the tour project to North Korea, if it is found to have violated the law, the Unification Ministry said.
Kim Ho-nyoun, the ministry's spokesman, told reporters Sunday that the company would be penalized if it committed illegal acts while promoting tour programs to Mt. Geumgang resort and North Korean border city of Gaeseong.
A day earlier, the team consisting of officials from the Prime Minister's Office, the Unification Ministry and other related agencies was launched to examine conditions of the tourism to the reclusive state and study ways to improve them.
Those moves came after the shooting death of a South Korean tourist at the resort which led to mounting criticism of the company's lack of safety measures regarding tours to the Stalinist state.
Contrary to the nation being shocked by the killing, most ordinary citizens in the North are not aware of the incident, Kim said.
``Some North Korean media reported the killing a day after the tourist was shot but the reports were not available to the masses. We confirmed that most ordinary people are not aware of what happened,'' Kim said.
The North runs several media outlets but ordinary people cannot watch, read or listen to them because of the state's control of media.
Though Pyongyang slightly backed down from its initial stance of blaming the South for the incident this does not reflect meaningful change, he added.
Park Wang-ja, a 53-year-old housewife, was shot dead by North Korean soldiers after she crossed a fenced-off military zone while taking a pre-dawn stroll on July 11, according to the North.
As the secretive state refused to allow a South Korean fact-finding mission to enter its territory to conduct investigations into the shooting, the killing remained mired in mystery.
Besides, an additional witness presented evidence regarding the estimated time of the shooting which goes against the North's claims.
The reclusive state said its soldier opened a fire at about 4:55 a.m.
However, a university student who was near the scene said he heard shots around 5:16 a.m. showing three pictures taken at the time of the killing.
Two tourists already claimed they heard the shooting after 5 a.m.
The fact-finding group of related ministries and agencies has been examining tapes of a surveillance camera installed at the Beach Hotel that Park was staying in a bid to clarify what happened.
Results of the examination and the third round of the meeting of the team will be released Monday, the spokesman said.