hankyoreh

Hyundai Asan CEO Cho Kun-sik urged the government to make a priority of the unconditional resumption of Mount Geumgang (Kumgang) tourism to prevent further deterioration of inter-Korean relations and resume dialogue.

In an interview Tuesday evening with The Hankyoreh, Cho said, “Currently, not only Hyundai’s inter-Korean economic cooperation projects but all inter-Korean relations are in an overall state of crisis, and as such there need to be historic and bold measures from the government to find a solution.” This means that because it was Seoul that declared a halt to Mount Geumgang tourism in the first place, it needs to “shift its way of thinking” to make a breakthrough in the improvement of overall North-South relations by first expressing its intent to resume [tourism] unconditionally as a solution to the problem it created itself.

Cho deemed the resumption of Mount Geumgang tourism to be the only card really available for the South to present preemptively to break through the current hardening of inter-Korean relations. But while the government is no longer emphasizing an apology from the North for the death of a tourist, an on-site investigation of the case and a plan to prevent recurrence of incidents such as the tourist shooting as preconditions of resuming tourism, it is making it clear that “discussion between authorities” must take place first.

Regarding a specific path for conceptualizing improved inter-Korean relations, Cho said, “The government can start by resuming Mount Geumgang tourism and then go about specifically discussing issues such as the prevention of recurrence of incidents such as the tourist shooting between North and South Korean authorities at the institutional level.” If they start discussions between authorities from the two Koreas, they can make a breakthrough in improving inter-Korean relations, as they will be able to discuss pending issues such as the meeting of separated families and distribution of humanitarian food aid as part of a package with Pyongyang, explained Cho.

Currently, the possibility of the government accepting Cho’s suggestion seems low. At a Wednesday session of the National Assembly special committee on developing inter-Korean relations, Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong said in reference to North Korea’s measure of “limiting and blocking overland passage” that visits to the Gaeseong and Mount Geumgang regions would be limited for the time being except for special cases.

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