N.Korea rejects offer for talks over tourism site -S.Korean ministry

Ananti

29/10/2019 08:39

SEOUL, Oct 29 (Reuters) - North Korea has rejected a South
Korean offer to hold talks about the future of joint tourism
facilities that leader Kim Jong Un recently ordered dismantled,
the South's Unification Ministry said on Tuesday.
    Kim said last week he wanted the "shabby" and "capitalist"
facilities at Mt Kumgang resort removed and rebuilt, in the
latest blow to South Korean hopes of reducing tensions between
two nations still technically at war.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N277417
    On Monday, the Unification Ministry, which handles relations
with its northern neighbour, said it had proposed talks with
North Korea on how to handle the facilities.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N27D010
    However, North Korean officials rejected that idea and said
they would only discuss the matter by exchanging documents, the
ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
    When South Korean tourists were allowed to visit to Mt
Kumgang beginning in 1998, several South Korean firms including
Hyundai Asan Corp and Ananti Inc  025980.KQ , invested in the
project.
    The programme was suspended in 2008 after a North Korean
soldier shot dead a South Korean tourist who had wandered
unknowingly into a military area.
    "The government will closely cooperate with business
operators on the Mt Kumgang tourism issue and draw up
countermeasures, on the principle that all issues of
inter-Korean relations should be resolved through dialogue and
consultation," the ministry said in the statement.
    Reopening the site to new South Korean tours has been touted
by South Korean President Moon Jae-in as a way to improve
relations between the two Koreas, whose 1950-53 war ended in an
armistice rather than a peace treaty.
    International sanctions over North Korea's nuclear weapons
programme block most overt investment or financial transactions
with the country, however, and Pyongyang has shown increasing
frustration with Seoul's inability to move ahead with any kind
of joint economic or tourism plans.

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N.Korea's Kim vows to clear 'shabby' S.Korea relics from Kumgang
resort     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N277417
S.Korea proposes talks with North to discuss Mt Kumgang resort  
  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N27D010
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 (Reporting by Josh Smith and Minwoo Park; Editing by
Christopher Cushing)
 ((JoshSmith1@thomsonreuters.com;))