S Korean tourism officials to visit DPRK over suspended cross-border tours

SEOUL, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Officials from South Korea's Hyundai Asan Corp. and state-run Korean Tourism Organization (KTO) will visit the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) later this week, local media reported Monday.

The planned visit is in response to the DPRK's threat last week to seize the South's real estate inside the resort area of Mt. Kumgang, one of the destinations of the suspended cross-border tours, in protest of what it sees as Seoul's unwillingness to reopen the tours.

The KTO, which local media say owns properties worth 90 billion won (79.2 million U.S. dollars) at the resort area, will be sending a few executives to the DPRK on March 24, and Hyundai Asan, the operator of the suspended tours, will send a delegation there on March 25, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Pyongyang last week said it would look into assets held by South Korean firms in the resort area, which local media previously said would amount to 360 billion won (31 million U.S. dollars), and find a "new business partner" if Seoul refuses to reopen the tour by April.

Seoul has expressed regret over the threat and said the government would respect business operators in deciding what they would do in response to the DPRK's investigation.

Tours to Mount Kumgang, launched in 1998 and run by South Korea 's Hyundai Asan Corp., was halted in 2008 soon after a South Korean female tourist was shot dead by a DPRK soldier. Tours to the border town of Kaesong was also suspended in the same year, rapidly souring inter-Korean ties.

Earlier this year, the two sides held working-level talks on reopening the tours but failed to narrow differences on major issues.

Seoul reiterated its position that drawing up safety measures and launching an investigation into the shooting incident should come first before reopening the tours, but Pyongyang claimed the preconditions have been already met.

The row over the tour programs deepened in early March after the DPRK threatened to revoke all inter-Korean deals related to tour programs, denouncing South Korea for blocking the resumption of the tours.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Asan President Cho Gun-sik offered last week to step down to shoulder responsibility for suspended cross-border tours and subsequent financial woes of the company.