By Chung Ah-young
Exchanges in diverse sectors such as tourism, culture and sports are expected to gain fresh momentum after the two Koreas reached an agreement, Tuesday, to ease military tension across the border.
Most were halted in 2010 when the South imposed sanctions on the North following its sinking of the South Korean frigate Cheonan.
Tuesday’s breakthrough is expected to put these exchanges back into place.
The government said that Pyongyang had brought up the issue of resuming tours to the Mt. Geumgang resort on its southeast coast, which were suspended when a North Korean guard shot dead a female South Korean tourist in 2008.
The mountain resort had carried a symbolic meaning of private-sector exchanges between the Koreas. Some 2 million South Koreans had traveled the resort from 1998 to 2008.
Non-governmental organizations (NGO) in South Korea will also resume their humanitarian support, which had been refused by the North as inter-Korean relation soured in recent years.
The NGOs have indirectly provided support via other organizations based in the United States or Canada. Last year, 18 organizations provided some 5.4 billion won worth of humanitarian aid to North Korean infants, mothers and patients.
Also, a joint project of scholars from the two Koreas to create a comprehensive dictionary is likely to restart. The project was intended to bridge the linguistic divide for when the two Koreas were unified.
Originally started in 2004, it has made little progress due to political tensions. It was supposed to be completed by 2019 with more than 30,000 word definitions.
In the cultural sector, the two parties are likely to restart excavating the historical site at Manwoldae, the site of an official royal palace of the Goryeo Kingdom (918-1392).
Manwoldae is located in the ancient capital city of Gaeseong, just across the Demilitarized Zone in southern North Korea. It was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites list in 2013 in recognition of its archeological, historical and cultural value.
The archeological work to had been jointly conducted by the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage (NRICH) from the South and the Joseon History Museum Discovery Team from the North.
Also, more inter-Korean exchanges will be in line with President Park Geun-hye’s speech in the former East German city of Dresden in 2014.
South and North Korea are expected to collaborate to set up multi-farming complexes that support agriculture, livestock and forestry in areas in the North suffering from poor production and deforestation. Fertilizer and food aid will likely be sent from the South.
In sports, inter-Korean cooperation for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics is expected, along with exchanges in taekwondo and football.