By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
South and North Korea will hold talks in the North Korean city Gaeseong today in a bid to discuss the resumption of inter-Korean tour programs, which have been suspended since July, 2008.
South Korea banned its citizens from traveling to Gaeseong and Mt. Geumgang after a female tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier during a pre-dawn stroll near the Geumgang resort.
"The government remains firm in its stance that the tour programs can be resumed after the North meets three preconditions," an official of the unification ministry here said, asking to remain anonymous.
Seoul has asked Pyongyang to cooperate in investigating the shooting incident; to promise to prevent a similar case from reoccurring and to ensure the safety of South Korean visitors.
The official did not elaborate on other items to be negotiated.
North Korea has refused to allow South Korean officials to enter the crime scene for investigations, insisting that the South Korean woman had clearly trespassed when she entered the military restricted zone where she was shot.
The 53-year-old woman, Park Wang-ja, was shot twice, once in the chest and once in the left hip, after she allegedly failed to heed warnings to halt.
A South Korean investigation team was immediately dispatched to the shooting scene but gained no tangible results. Due to safety concerns, tours to the North were suspended.
Since then, there has been no official communication between the two Koreas on the issue.
The Mt. Geungang resort was opened to the public in 1998 and about 1.9 million visitors, mostly South Koreans, have visited the scenic area, according to the ministry.
Some North Korea watchers are, however, casting hopeful prospects for the meeting since the secretive state has constantly expressed its willingness to start the high-profile project again.
Last November, North Korean officials told Hyun Jeong-eun, chairwoman of Hyundai Group, which operates the tour programs, that the North was willing to have a government-to-government meeting to resume the tours.
Additionally, Pyongyang last month proposed having a meeting from Jan. 26 and 27.
It accepted Seoul's suggestion to postpone the talks to Feb. 8.
On Saturday, South and North Korea exchanged a list of delegation members.
The South will dispatch 18 officials, including chief delegate Kim Nam-shik and 15 support staff while the North will send three delegates including Kang Yong-chol, a senior official from North Korea's Asia Pacific Peace Committee, to the talks.