South Korea mulls allowing individual tours to North Korea as tensions ease

Al Jazeera

5 days ago

South Korea is considering allowing individual tours to North Korea as it studies ways to improve relations with its neighbour, a spokesperson for South Korea's Ministry of Unification says.
'The government is formulating and pursuing North Korea policies with the goal of easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula and improving inter-Korean ties with various measures under consideration in the process,' the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
The announcement was made as Seoul takes more steps to ease tensions with its northern rival after the election of President Lee Jae-myung, who has pledged to improve strained ties with Pyongyang.
In a bid to ease tensions, Lee suspended anti-North Korea loudspeaker broadcasts along the border and ordered a halt to leaflet campaigns criticising the North's leaders by anti-Pyongyang activists.
Koo Byung-sam, spokesperson for the Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, refused to comment on a 'particular issue'. But he said he understood individual tours were not in violation of international sanctions, according to a report by the Reuters news agency.
South Korea's Dong-A Ilbo newspaper also said Lee's administration is considering resuming individual trips to North Korea as a negotiating card to reopen dialogue with Pyongyang.
It reported that Lee mentioned the proposal during a National Security Council meeting on July 10. The government subsequently began a review of the plan, the report added, quoting a senior official.
Tourism is one of a narrow range of cash sources for North Korea that are not targeted under United Nations sanctions imposed over its nuclear and weapons programmes.
Citing anti-Pyongyang broadcasters, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency also reported on Monday that the National Intelligence Service this month had suspended all of its decades-old broadcasts targeting the North Korean regime.
Lee said he will discuss further plans with top security officials to resume dialogue with North Korea, which technically is still at war with the South after the 1950-1953 Korean War ended with an armistice and not a peace treaty.
North Korea recently opened a beach resort in the city of Wonsan, a flagship project driven by leader Kim Jong Un to promote tourism. But the tourist area is temporarily not accepting foreign visitors, according to a note on Wednesday by DPR Korea Tour, a website operated by North Korea's National Tourism Administration.
North Korea's tourism industry appears to be struggling even after it lifted COVID-19 border restrictions, allowing rail and flight services with Russia and China.
Asked if South Koreans would travel to Wonsan, Koo said North Korea first needs to open the area to the outside world.
South Korea once ran tours to North Korea's Mount Kumgang area but suspended them in 2008 when a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier.