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Pyongyang Suspends Mt. Geumgang Tours

2003-08-06

2003-08-06

North Korea said on Tuesday (Aug. 5) that it will temporarily suspend the Mt. Geumgang tour program to show its condolences for the late Chung Mong-hun, chairman of South Korea's Hyundai Asan who committed suicide on Monday.

"We cannot help but suspend Mt. Geumgang tourism for the time being to mourn his death," the North Korean Central News Agency quoted the country's inter-Korean business arm Asia-Pacific Peace Committee as saying in a statement.

The tours of the mountain region in the communist North are run as a joint venture between Hyundai Asan and the committee.

"We express deep condolences on the sad news of the sudden death," the committee said, adding that the late Chung spearheaded inter-Korean economic cooperation.

However, the committee said it will not send a delegation to Chung's funeral, as it did two years ago when his father and Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung passed away. It plans to hold its own memorial event, Hyundai Asan said.

The North's inter-Korean business agency early Tuesday sent condolatory messages to Chung's elder brother Chung Moo-koo, chairman of Hyundai Motor, and Kim Yoon-kyu, president of Hyundai Asan.

"North Korea said they would hold a large-scale memorial event for Chung Mong-hun at Mt. Geumgang. They will express condolences at the altar set up by Hyundai at the mountain resort," a Hyundai Asan official said. Concerning the suspension of the tour, the cross-border business operator on Tuesday delivered a message to Pyongyang asking for the continuance of the tour program.

The Seoul government expressed worry over the suspension of the program but downplayed the political implications. "That could be the typical way of expressing condolence from the North. There will not be any major disruption in the projects," a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.

Another government official also noted that Pyongyang may be perplexed by the unexpected incident and need time to figure out its response. "But the cross-border projects will go on sooner or later," the official said.

In the message sent to Seoul, the North lashed out at the independent counsel and the opposition party. "Chung's death was not a suicide in a true sense of the word, but a murder by South Korea's independent counsel and main opposition Grand National Party, which oppose inter-Korean progress."

"The future of the Mt. Geumgang project and other inter-Korean cooperative plans are uncertain due to the murder of Chung Mong-hun, who initiated the project, a symbol of the true relationship between the two Koreas."

The North's National Economic Cooperation Federation and the Geumgangsan International Tourism Group sent separate messages of condolence to Hyundai Asan.

Chung was facing trial for his alleged involvement in a scandal involving the secret transfer of $500 million to North Korea just before the 2000 inter-Korean summit.

He also faced other charges of falsifying company documents to hide the money transfer. His suicide came days before he was to be summoned by prosecutors for further questioning about his alleged role in the scandal.

Source : www.korea.net