N. Korea quits tourism project this week
April 12, 2010, Monday
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NORTH Korea informed South Korea it will begin quitting a joint tourism project in the communist country this week, officials said yesterday.
North Korea said last Thursday it would freeze some South Korean assets at scenic Diamond Mountain, expel South Koreans working at the site and restart the stalled project with a new partner.
A day later, North Korea told South Korea it will carry out the plan tomorrow, starting with the freezing of the South Korean government-owned assets that include a reunion center for families separated by the Korean War, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry. It was not clear when North Korea would expel South Korean personnel.
North Korea said it would freeze assets at the site while South Korean officials were in attendance, but Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said South Korea has no intention of sending officials to comply with North Korea's request.
South Korea halted tours to the mountain resort on North Korea's east coast in July 2008 after a South Korean tourist was fatally shot after allegedly entering a restricted military area next to the resort.
North Korea had recently expressed its willingness to restart the tours, but South Korea said North Korea must first accept a joint investigation into the shooting death.
North Korea's decision to quit the tour project "is the inevitable consequence entailed by the moves of the South Korean authorities to escalate the confrontation with fellow countrymen," North Korea's government-run Minju Joson newspaper said yesterday.
North Korea said last Thursday it would freeze some South Korean assets at scenic Diamond Mountain, expel South Koreans working at the site and restart the stalled project with a new partner.
A day later, North Korea told South Korea it will carry out the plan tomorrow, starting with the freezing of the South Korean government-owned assets that include a reunion center for families separated by the Korean War, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry. It was not clear when North Korea would expel South Korean personnel.
North Korea said it would freeze assets at the site while South Korean officials were in attendance, but Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said South Korea has no intention of sending officials to comply with North Korea's request.
South Korea halted tours to the mountain resort on North Korea's east coast in July 2008 after a South Korean tourist was fatally shot after allegedly entering a restricted military area next to the resort.
North Korea had recently expressed its willingness to restart the tours, but South Korea said North Korea must first accept a joint investigation into the shooting death.
North Korea's decision to quit the tour project "is the inevitable consequence entailed by the moves of the South Korean authorities to escalate the confrontation with fellow countrymen," North Korea's government-run Minju Joson newspaper said yesterday.
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