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An image of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un conducting on-the-spot guidance at Mt. Kumgang tourist facilities published by the Rodong Sinmun on Oct. 23. (Yonhap News)

The South Korean government has offered to send a joint inspection team, composed of government officials and business operators, to North Korea in connection with the issue of Mt. Kumgang tourism. South Korea’s Unification Ministry announced on Nov. 6 that it had sent the proposal to North Korea’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, via the inter-Korean joint liaison office in Kaesong on the morning on Nov. 5. This represents Seoul’s response to North Korea’s effective dismissal of South Korea’s proposal on Oct. 28 for working-level talks and the North’s request, reiterated on Oct. 29, for a discussion regarding the planning and scheduling for removing the Mt. Kumgang facilities via correspondence.

“We explained [in the message] that the joint team would be charged with assessing facility safety and that all the necessary matters could be deliberated. Whether we’re talking about removal [as North Korea has suggested] or reopening tourism to Mt. Kumgang [as South Korea wants to discuss], facility inspection is a necessary step,” said Unification Ministry Spokesperson Lee Sang-min.

The approach is focused on establishing common ground while leaving the differences for later. Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul explained, “If South and North can just sit down together, we can find a new plan for moving forward with the Mt. Kumgang tourism zone that is both feasible and palatable to both sides.”

The South Korean government’s basic approach to the situation -- which was touched off when North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announced a “vision for a Mt. Kumgang international tourist culture zone” and ordered the demolition of South Korean facilities during a visit to the Mt. Kumgang tourism zone, as reported on the front page of the Rodong Sinmun’s Oct. 23 edition -- is focused on holding meetings and working toward an agreement.

Lee Sang-min stressed, “The government’s policy is that this needs to happen through agreements and meetings.” With Kim ordering that the demolition should proceed “with the agreement of related sectors in the South,” the two sides are not in disagreement on handling the situation through a consensus. But they have not been able to bridge their differences on whether that consensus should be reached through face-to-face meetings (South Korea’s position) or the exchanging of documents (North Korea’s).

For Seoul, the minimum aim of its response is to protect the intellectual property of Hyundai Asan and other South Korean businesses. The North Korean party that agreed to and signed off on the Mt. Kumgang tourism cooperation project with Hyundai in November 1998 was the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee. For that reason, the South Korean government made the committee the recipient of both its working-level talks proposal and its recent message to the North, even though the two notices from the North on Oct. 25 and 29 were sent in the name of the “Mt. Kumgang international tourism bureau.” It’s an area where the South and North Korean approaches subtly differ.

Many observers said the likelihood of North Korea accepting the proposal of a joint inspection team visit is not high. But no official response had yet been reported from the North. A past precedent was established when a “joint civilian/government discussion group” visited Pyongyang on June 29 and July 13, 2011, to discuss issues concerning intellectual property rights for the Mt. Kumgang tourism zone -- although that visit occurred in a different context, coming in response to a request from North Korea.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

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