hankyoreh

Mt. Geumgang (Kumgang) tourism, which was in jeopardy last year due to decreased popularity in the face of North Korea’s missile launches and nuclear test, has picked up again this year.

An official of Hyundai Asan - the company largely running the tours - said on February 22, "During the Lunar New Year, the number of visitors to the scenic North Korean mountain increased more than two times from last year’s figures." Up to 855 tourists visited Mt. Geumgang this year during the Lunar New Year’s holiday, compared with 418 last year and 530 in 2005.

Indeed, Mt. Geumgang tourism business has shown an overall upward trend this year. Shortly after the North Korean nuclear test in October last year, 40 percent of reservations for the mountain’s tours were cancelled. Accordingly, the number of Mt. Geumgang tourists in 2006 totaled about 240,000, roughly half of Hyundai Asan’s target of 400,000. As a result, some staff at the mountain resort had to work from home rather than at the mountain site itself due to a lack of need for personnel.

However, 11,257 tourists visited Mt. Geumgang in January this year, compared with 11,040 last January. Hyundai Asan predicted about 11,000 visitors would tour the mountain in February, and about 20,000 persons are expected to visit the mountain in March. On weekends in particular, the mountain resort has been booked almost full so far this year.

The Hyundai Asan official said such an increase of tourists was due to the help of civic organizations. Since November last year, civic groups have launched a campaign to promote Mt. Geumgang tourism in a broader effort to help prevent North-South relations from moving backward following the North’s nuclear test. The number of teachers and students who toured Mt. Geumgang thanks to state-subsidized tickets numbered about 16,000 for the first two months of last year; in comparison, 13,000 members of civic organizations paid full price to tour the mountain this winter in order to keep the project afloat.

Hyundai has set the target of 400,000 tourists this year, the same target it had set last year.

In general, the resumption of the six-party talks on the North’s nuclear program has helped to thaw relations between the two Koreas, meaning more South Koreans are looking to Mt. Geumgang as a viable tourist destination. In addition, if North Korea permits tours to more sections of Mt. Geumgang, as has been discussed, the tourist numbers will likely increase further. A golf course will officially begin operations there in October, and a large duty-free shop will open in March. The Hyundai Asan official said, "There will be various positive factors [to increase tourism], and if there are no obstacles, the target of 400,000 visitors will be achieved this year without difficulty."

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