N. Korea says if Hyundai tour
fails,
it will be U.S. military's fault
By Jim Lea, Stars and Stripes
The U.S.
military is to blame if the Hyundai Business Group tour to North Korea’s Mount
Kumgang National Park fails, Radio Pyongyang charged in a report Thursday.
The
four-day ferry tour to the park — just north of the eastern end of the Demilitarized
Zone — began in late 1998, and more than 400,000 South Koreans had made the trip by
the middle of last year. Since then, however, interest in the trip has waned
significantly.
Hyundai,
which offers the tour that gives rank-and-file South Koreans their only opportunity to
visit the North, promised Pyongyang nearly $1 billion in licensing fees to operate the
tour for 10 years. The company defaulted on a monthly payment early this year, citing a
nearly $300 million business loss.
Tourists
must sleep on the ferry that takes them to the park. Many say the trip is boring since
there is little to do besides climb the scenic mountains and watch North Korean circus
acts at the port where the ferry docks. They also complain of strict surveillance by North
Korean officials and stringent regulations while in the park.
Hyundai
hoped to make the trips more interesting by operating gambling casinos on the ferries, but
the South Korean government nixed the proposal.
But the
Radio Pyongyang report monitored Thursday by Naewoe Press, Seoul’s official North
Korea media watcher, said claims by Gen. Thomas A. Schwartz and other U.S. military
officials that money Pyongyang is making off the trips may be diverted to military use are
to blame for flagging interest in the tour.
Schwartz is
the senior U.S. military commander in South Korea.
The tour is
open to both South Koreans and foreigners, but U.S. Forces Korea prohibits Status of
Forces Agreement members from making the trip.
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