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North Korea seeks tourism partner as it shuns SeoulNorth Korea on Thursday unveiled a law that will see a new tourism zone be established at Mount Kumgang, after stripping the South Korean firm that developed the resort of its exclusive right to run tours there. The North has also nullified an earlier law, its official news agency said, relating to Hyundai Asan's 50-year monopoly over cross-border tours to the scenic east coast destination just north of the border. Hyundai Asan has invested millions of dollars since the 1990s in developing Mount Kumgang, the first major joint cross-border business project. The new law calls for the creation of a new North Korean state agency to control tours to the resort and attract foreign investment. The tours to Kumgang that began in 1998 gave tens of thousands of South Koreans their first opportunity to visit the North. The South suspended visits by its people after a North Korean soldier shot dead a Seoul housewife there in July 2008. The South has said it will not resume the tours until the North allows an on-site investigation into the shooting and gives firm safety guarantees – a demand Pyongyang refuses to accept. North Korea said Monday it would no longer deal with the South Korean government. It said it would cut a military communications line on the east coast and shut a liaison office at Kumgang. China on Thursday reiterated its call for dialogues and consultations to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula, stressing that peaceful approaches are needed to solve the issue. AFP – Xinhua |
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