ID :
198012
Fri, 07/29/2011 - 09:31
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/198012
The shortlink copeid
S. Korea urges N. Korea to hold talks on resolving row over seized assets
SEOUL, July 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea urged North Korea to come forward for talks to resolve the dispute on its seized assets at a scenic mountain resort in the isolated communist country, an official said Friday.
The proposal, sent to the North via the border village of Panmunjom earlier Friday, comes as Pyongyang threatened to dispose of the assets for stalled joint tour programs at Mount Kumgang unless South Korean investors join an international tour program for the resort under its new law.
The cross-border project was once hailed as a key symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation after decades of enmity, but it has become the latest bone of contention between the two Koreas amid lingering tensions over the North's deadly attacks on the South last year.
Seoul halted the tour programs in 2008 following the shooting death of a South Korean female tourist at the resort, stripping the North of a key source of much-needed hard currency.
Friday's offer came days after Pyongyang rejected Seoul's previous proposal for talks on how to end the dispute. A delegation of South Korean officials and business representatives has traveled to the resort twice since late June, though no progress was made.
The North has warned that it will take unspecified legal action to dispose of the assets if Seoul fails to bring its private investors to the resort by Friday or tries to obstruct its negotiations on how to dispose of the assets.
"We urge North Korea once again to begin dialogue to consult overall issues" over the stalled tour program and the assets disposal, Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo told reporters.
Lee said South Korea will make every effort to ensure South Korea's assets, estimated to be worth about 300 billion won (US$284 million), are protected. She did not elaborate.
South Korea has invested tens of millions of dollars in building hotels, restaurants and a golf course at the resort since 1998 when the North opened it for South Korean tourists.
Earlier this year, the North announced a law designed to develop the resort as a special zone for international tours after unilaterally terminating exclusive tourism rights for Hyundai Asan, a key South Korean tour operator at the resort.
The proposal, sent to the North via the border village of Panmunjom earlier Friday, comes as Pyongyang threatened to dispose of the assets for stalled joint tour programs at Mount Kumgang unless South Korean investors join an international tour program for the resort under its new law.
The cross-border project was once hailed as a key symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation after decades of enmity, but it has become the latest bone of contention between the two Koreas amid lingering tensions over the North's deadly attacks on the South last year.
Seoul halted the tour programs in 2008 following the shooting death of a South Korean female tourist at the resort, stripping the North of a key source of much-needed hard currency.
Friday's offer came days after Pyongyang rejected Seoul's previous proposal for talks on how to end the dispute. A delegation of South Korean officials and business representatives has traveled to the resort twice since late June, though no progress was made.
The North has warned that it will take unspecified legal action to dispose of the assets if Seoul fails to bring its private investors to the resort by Friday or tries to obstruct its negotiations on how to dispose of the assets.
"We urge North Korea once again to begin dialogue to consult overall issues" over the stalled tour program and the assets disposal, Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo told reporters.
Lee said South Korea will make every effort to ensure South Korea's assets, estimated to be worth about 300 billion won (US$284 million), are protected. She did not elaborate.
South Korea has invested tens of millions of dollars in building hotels, restaurants and a golf course at the resort since 1998 when the North opened it for South Korean tourists.
Earlier this year, the North announced a law designed to develop the resort as a special zone for international tours after unilaterally terminating exclusive tourism rights for Hyundai Asan, a key South Korean tour operator at the resort.
