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Al Jazeera
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
South Korea mulls allowing individual tours to North Korea as tensions ease
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.
Korea Herald
16-04-2025
- Korea Herald
Seoul school told students to delete video evidence of teacher assault: report
A high school in southwestern Seoul is facing a backlash after reportedly checking students' phones and asking them to delete footage of a classmate assaulting a teacher, according to multiple Korean-language media reports on Wednesday. The assault took place last Thursday at a school in Yangcheon-gu, where a senior student allegedly struck a teacher in the face while holding a smartphone. He was reportedly enraged when the teacher in question scolded him for playing video games with the phone during class. After the incident, students received a group message warning them against keeping or sharing video footage of the incident. "Possessing footage of the incident that occurred during second period today, distributing or sharing it could cause problems. Do not share it anymore and please erase all of it. The person who first filmed the incident should contact their home teacher," reads the message which was revealed to Korean-language daily DongA Ilbo. Another message reportedly sent by the school principal told students not to speak to the press, warning that those possessing the video could be punished for invasion of privacy and defamation. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education is currently reviewing the incident, and Seoul Yancheon Police Station has reportedly launched an investigation into the matter. The incident sparked controversy here, as checking students' phone is potentially against the freedom of privacy and freedom of expression stipulated in the Articles 12 and 13 of the Student Human Rights Ordinance of Gyeonggi Province. The school told local media outlets that the boy who attacked the teacher did not ask the video to be removed. It argued that phone checks had not been conducted forcibly, but under the consent of each student. The school said that as the students who filmed the incident are in their senior year, being involved in a lawsuit could seriously affect their college admissions status even if they are cleared of charges.
