North Korea's military has notified Hyundai Asan of its plan to visit the Mt. Geumgang resort today to inspect South Korean property there, the Ministry of Unification said Wednesday.
They will look into the property that was excluded from its earlier freezing of the
facilities owned by the South Korean government and a tourism agency, ministry
officials said.
The notification followed an inspection of the joint industrial park Monday, leaving the South to speculate on what the motive was and what the next step would be.
The ministry said the North's military informed Hyundai Asan, the operator of the Mt. Geumgang tourism, of the scheduled visit the previous day.
An official told reporters on condition of anonymity that several military officers were scheduled to look around the facilities and properties owned by South Korean businesses at the resort.
Earlier, North Korean authorities froze five properties owned by the South Korean
government and the Korea Tourism Organization as Seoul has shown few signs of
resuming the tourism project.
The ministry stood firm on its position that it would not restart the visits without a safety guarantee. North Korea watchers here said the move was Pyongyang attempting to pressure Seoul to allow its citizens to travel to the resort again.
Some did not rule out the possibility that the North may attempt to freeze South
Korean businesses' properties.
The military's inspection of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex and the plan to visit the tourism site came weeks after it denounced the South over some non-government organizations that send anti-North Korea fliers to the North attached to balloons.
It threatened that the North would rethink the measure of allowing South Koreans to have access to the inter-Korean border.
In 2008, North Korea temporarily banned South Koreans from entering the joint
industrial park, six days after an inspection of the site.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/include/print.asp?newsIdx=64643
No comments:
Post a Comment