hankyoreh

Tours to Mount Baekdu are expected not to resume this year due to problems with the infrastructure of North Korea’s Samjiyon Airport, the closest airport to the mountain resort.

According to a report on Mount Baekdu tours, which was prepared by a joint inspection team composed of government officials and civilians and submitted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to GNP lawmaker Chin Young, of the National Assembly’s Unification, Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee on May 5, the facilities at Samjiyon Airport were old or had problems.

The control tower is located at one end of the runway, so people working in the tower are unable to monitor takeoffs and landings on the part of the runway that faces away from it, the report said. In addition, most of the facilities essential for the safe operation of aircraft are old or not working, and there is no equipment or facilities for airplane maintenance, water and oil supply, airplane operation management, snow and weed removal, and the prevention of freezing and fires, the report noted. Furthermore, airport facilities require expansion and maintenance. The office of lawmaker Chin said that it would take one and half years to establish and test new flight safety facilities.

Tours to Mount Baekdu were part of an agreement reached at the South-North summit in October. As inter-Korean relations have been tense since the launch of the new administration, follow up discussions on the details of tour operations, including working-level contact between aviation authorities from the South and the North on nonstop flights and talks on improving the facilities at Samjiyon Airport, have come to a complete standstill.

The tourist season at Mount Baekdu is from May to September, due to heavy snow and cold affecting the region from October to April. If the two Koreas are unable to resume talks on the issue, and the airport facilities do not see improved by the summer, tours to Mount Baekdu are not likely to resume again this year.

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