The announcement by North Korea on Thursday to freeze a series of South Korean assets at its Mount Geumgang resort appears to be part of its tactics to heighten pressure on the Seoul government to resume tours to the mountain, analysts here said yesterday.
“The North is apparently trying to pressure the South in steps, insinuating that the complete closure of (the mountain resort) is also possible,” said Kim Yong-hyun, professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University.
He said the North appears to hope it will push the South to resume the stalled Geumgang tours by taking the South to the precipice.
“It appears that by first threatening to freeze the assets of the government, the North intends to make private firms doing business in the North -- which may feel nervous from the North’s move -- pressure the government,” he said, adding that the closure of the mountain resort may not occur immediately.
Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said that in the worst case, the move could lead to the serious deterioration of inter-Korean ties.
“The North appears to intend to adjust the intensity of its pressure on the South in steps in response to how the South reacts. The North apparently has in mind a scenario, in which inter-Korean relations would be completely deadlocked,” he said.
“In the first stage, the North would freeze assets owned by the Seoul government. In the second stage, it could freeze assets of Hyundai Asan. In this way, they will gradually raise the pressure.”
Thursday’s announcement came after the North threatened on March 18 to take “extraordinary measures” if the tours to Mount Geumgang and Gaeseong did not resume. Between March 25 and 31, the North conducted a survey of South Korean real estate assets at the mountain resort. The Seoul government has expressed regret over Pyongyang’s announcement, stressing that the issues
over the stalled tours should be addressed through dialogue.
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“This unilateral measure by the North should be immediately withdrawn as it runs counter to international rules as well as the contracts and agreements the North signed with businesses and the South,” said the Unification Ministry on Thursday.
“The matters should be addressed through dialogue. All responsibilities stemming from this measure lie on the North.”
Hyundai Asan Corp., the operator of the deadlocked tour business, expressed hope that the situation will not further deteriorate. Its assets in the North were not among the facilities it would freeze.
“As both the North and the South have presented their positions that the tours should be resumed through dialogue, we call for earnest and improved dialogue between the two governments to promptly proceed,” the company said in a statement issued after a meeting of its executives yesterday.
Only five or six South Koreans are said to work at the facilities the North said it would freeze. The Mount Geumgang tours -- a symbol of reconciliation following the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 and a significant source of capital for the impoverished state -- were suspended after a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier there in July 2008.
The South has maintained that in order to resume the tours, the North must provide a better explanation for the shooting and ensure the safety of South Koreans. The North has claimed that its own probe shed enough light on the shooting and that it already gave its highest (Kim Jong-il’s) word on the prevention of such incidents in the future.
Pyongyang is in dire need of foreign investments after tough U.N. sanctions for its nuclear test blocked its arms exports and attraction of foreign investments.
In Thursday’s statement, the North said it would “freeze” the family reunion center and a fire station -- built by the Seoul government -- as well as a cultural center, a spa facility and a duty-free shop, which are owned by the state-run Korea Tourism Organization. It also said that personnel involved in their
operation will be sent home.
In the statement released through its official Korean Central News Agency, the North also threatened to resume the stalled tours to the eastern mountain with a new business partner and “entirely reevaluate” the joint industrial park in Gaeseong.
The North also said that it would deprive three businesses of their rights to operate in the North for failing to participate in its recent survey of South Korean assets in the mountain resort.
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