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| Hyun Jeong-eun, chairwoman of Hyundai Group, arrives at a service area near the border between two Koreas in Gangwon Province, Sunday. / Yonhap |
By Park Ji-won
Hyundai Group and North Korea held a joint event Sunday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the inter-Korean tourism program at the North's Mount Geumgang.
According to Hyundai Group, 100 South Koreans headed to North Korea to participate in the first celebratory event in four years at the scenic resort from Sunday to today.
Eighty officials from the North's Asia-Pacific Peace Committee also participated in the event, which it co-organized with the South's tour operator.
"We hope the event can be used as a linchpin to resume the tour program for peace and cooperation as early as possible," Hyundai said in a statement.
Among South Korean participants were about 30 Hyundai officials, including Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun and Hyundai Asan CEO Bae Kook-hwan, six incumbent lawmakers, former government officials, private experts, businesspeople and journalists.
This was Hyun's third visit to the North this year. She joined the delegation accompanying President Moon Jae-in on his trip to Pyongyang for last month's summit. Hyun also visited Mount Kumgang in August to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the death of her late husband Chung Mong-hun, the former Hyundai Group chairman who played a key role in the resort business in North Korea.
The event included a tree-planting ceremony, a performance and dinner on the first day and an inspection of the resort on the second day.
The tour program was a symbol of thawing relations and economic cooperation between the two Koreas. However, it was suspended in 2008 after a North Korean soldier shot dead a South Korean female tourist there.
Since the halt, the group has sought to resume tourist operations, but political tension between the Koreas did not allow that to happen. The two held the joint celebratory event almost every year from 1999 to 2014.
But expectations have arisen that the program will be resumed following talks to reduce military tensions between Koreas.
Sanctions being imposed on North Korea are preventing economic exchanges between two Koreas. North Korea has been asking for financial assistance from the United States and United Nations Security Council (UNSC), but Washington remains negative until Pyongyang takes more concrete measures on denuclearization.
