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

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

Al Jazeera3 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.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Video: Iran's president says country won't abandon its nuclear programme
Video: Iran's president says country won't abandon its nuclear programme

Al Jazeera

time10 hours ago

  • Al Jazeera

Video: Iran's president says country won't abandon its nuclear programme

Iran's president says country won't abandon its nuclear programme NewsFeed Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has told Al Jazeera his country is committed to continuing its nuclear program for peaceful purposes, after the 12-day assault by Israel supported by the US. Video Duration 03 minutes 18 seconds 03:18 Video Duration 00 minutes 40 seconds 00:40 Video Duration 03 minutes 00 seconds 03:00 Video Duration 01 minutes 39 seconds 01:39 Video Duration 01 minutes 47 seconds 01:47 Video Duration 02 minutes 57 seconds 02:57 Video Duration 00 minutes 46 seconds 00:46

Japan's PM Ishiba vows to stay in office despite election debacle
Japan's PM Ishiba vows to stay in office despite election debacle

Al Jazeera

time15 hours ago

  • Al Jazeera

Japan's PM Ishiba vows to stay in office despite election debacle

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has denied reports he plans to resign over a historic defeat his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) suffered in a weekend election, saying he wants to make sure the tariff deal struck with the United States is appropriately implemented. Japanese newspaper The Yomiuri Shimbun, in an extra edition on Wednesday, said Ishiba had decided to announce his resignation by the end of July after receiving a detailed report from his chief trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, paving the way for a party leadership vote to choose his successor. Asked about media reports that he had expressed his intention to step down as early as this month, the 68-year-old leader told reporters at the party headquarters on Wednesday: 'I have never made such a statement …The facts reported in the media are completely unfounded.' The reports surfaced after Ishiba and US President Donald Trump unveiled a trade deal on Tuesday that lowers tariffs on imports of Japanese autos and spares Tokyo from punishing new levies on other goods. Ishiba had previously announced his intention on Monday to stay on to tackle pressing challenges, including tariff talks with the US, without creating a political vacuum, leading to calls from inside and outside his party for a quick resignation to respond to the election results. Ishiba has been under growing pressure to step down as the centre-right LDP and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, lost their majority in the 248-member upper house, the smaller and less powerful of the two-chamber parliament, on Sunday, shaking his grip on power and Japan's political stability. The LDP has governed almost continuously since 1955, three years after US occupation of the country in the wake of World War II ended. The bruising loss means the ruling coalition, which also lost a majority in the more powerful lower house in October, now lacks a majority in both houses of parliament, making it even more difficult for his government to achieve any policy goals and worsening Japan's political instability. Ishiba welcomed the trade agreement on Wednesday, which places a 15 percent tax on Japanese cars and other goods imported into the US from Japan, down from the initial 25 percent before the August 1 deadline, saying it was a product of tough negotiations to protect the national interest and that it would help benefit both sides as they work together to create more jobs and investment. Some analysts, however, have blasted it as 'not a good deal at all'. Seijiro Takeshita, dean at the University of Shizuoka's Graduate School of Management, Informatics and Innovation, told Al Jazeera that people should look beyond the numbers in assessing whether the trade deal is good for Japan. In Sunday's election, voters frustrated with price increases exceeding the pace of wage hikes, especially younger people who have long felt ignored by the government's focus on senior voters, rapidly turned to emerging conservative and right-wing populist parties, like the Democratic Party for the People and the 'Japanese First' Sanseito far-right group which surged in Sunday's vote. Ishiba's potential departure less than a year after taking office would trigger a succession battle within the ruling LDP as it contends with these challenges from new political parties, particularly on the right, that are chipping away at its support. Resentment has also lingered over an LDP funding scandal. 'I really hope things will get better in Japan, but the population is declining, and I think living in Japan will get tougher and tougher,' Naomi Omura, an 80-year-old from Hiroshima, told the AFP news agency. 'It is disappointing that Japan cannot act more strongly' towards the US, but 'I think it was good that they agreed on a lower tariff', she said. None of the opposition parties has shown interest in forming a full-fledged alliance with the governing coalition, but they have said they are open to cooperating on policy.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store