Asia-Pacific

DPRK to resume cross-border tours in March, April

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-04 21:41

PYONGYANG - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) would resume cross-border tours regardless of South Korean opposition, official news agency KCNA reported on Thursday.

A spokesman for the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee issued a statement saying it would reopen the Kaesong area for tourists from March and Mt. Kumgang from April.

He said services and safety would be "fully provided" for tourists entering the DPRK from the south.

The South Korean authorities' continued blocking of the tours would compel the DPRK to "take decisive measures," which could include the "abrogation of all agreements and contracts on tourism provided by the DPRK to the south side as special benefits," "the freezing of real estate of the south side in the tourist areas and other matters," he said.

Park Wang-ja, a female tourist in her 50s, was shot to death in July 2008 by a DPRK sentinel after she wandered into a restricted area, but South Korea's request for an on-sight probe was rejected by the DPRK.

Tours to the historic border town of Kaesong were also suspended in the same year, rapidly souring inter-Korean ties that had been strained since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office earlier that year with a hard-line approach to the DPRK.

After about 19 months, in what many in Seoul saw as a peace gesture and seek a practical outcome, the DPRK in early January proposed to hold talks on resuming tours.