By Jun Ji-hye
The government said Sunday that United Nations sanctions that ban “bulk cash” transfers to North Korea cannot be ignored while South Korea is considering resuming the suspended joint tour program to Mount Geumgang.
“It is hard to say clearly that the U.N. sanctions and the resumption of the tour program are unrelated to each other,” said a high-ranking government official, on condition of anonymity.
The official noted that the heart of the question is whether bulk cash is siphoned into the North’s development of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), adding that it is important how Pyongyang uses the money it would earn from a resumption of the tour program.
The comment came after the South proposed, during the vice ministerial talks on Dec. 11 and 12, holding working-level talks with the North in late January to discuss the resumption of the joint tour program. Pyongyang repeatedly urged Seoul to discuss the issue during the meeting.
However, opponents have raised concerns that the resumption of the tours could violate U.N. sanctions that ban bulk cash transfers to Pyongyang to prevent the currency from being used in the repressive state’s development of WMDs.
“There should be consideration about the purpose of the U.N. sanctions rather than saying outright that the tour program is related or unrelated to such sanctions,” the official said.
The official cited the example that more than $100 million is annually invested in the joint industrial complex in the North’s border city of Gaeseong. “This is possible because there is an understanding that such money is wages for workers there and is unrelated to the development of WMDs,” the official said.
The remark was construed as indicating that there should be mutual understanding or an agreement that money that the North earns from the tour program should not lead to the development of WMDs. And this could be another precondition in addition to those the government has suggested before the tour program can be resumed.
The South has maintained that safety measures and an official apology from the North over the shooting of a South Korean by a North Korean soldier should come before the joint program is resumed.
Tours to the North’s scenic resort have been suspended since 2008 after a North Korean soldier gunned down a South Korean tourist for entering a restricted military area on the coast.
Pyongyang has repeatedly pressed Seoul to reopen the tour program, which was a major source of hard currency for the impoverished country. It earned $40 million a year from the project.
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