ID :
211901
Mon, 10/10/2011 - 06:14
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/211901
The shortlink copeid
Foreign company to offer cruise tour to N. Korea's mountain resort
SEOUL (Yonhap) - A foreign company has said it will offer a cruise tour to North Korea's scenic mountain resort next week, the latest sign that Pyongyang wants to revitalize the resort that is at the center of a dispute with South Korea.
Young Pioneer Tours, a Beijing-based company, said Sunday that it plans to attract 100 tourists for a five-day cruise from the North's northeastern area of Rason to Mount Kumgang on its east coast.
It said the tour is scheduled to start next Monday and will cost 8,500 yuan (US$1,300).
The move comes more than a month after North Korea started a trial cruise from its northeastern port city of Rajin to Mount Kumgang.
Park Chol-su, head of Daepung International Investment Group, which is responsible for attracting foreign capital, said last month that the North plans to start the cruise tours for ordinary tourists in late October.
North Korea has launched a series of tourism programs for Chinese in an apparent bid to earn much-needed hard currency.
South and North Korea jointly ran the tour program at the resort for a decade before Seoul halted it following the 2008 shooting death of a tourist by a North Korean soldier near the resort.
The North has expelled South Korean workers from Mount Kumgang and legally disposed of all South Korean assets there in anger over the suspension of the joint tour program.
South Korea has asked foreign countries not to invest or engage in tourism activities at the mountain resort as part of its moves to protect its property rights there.
Young Pioneer Tours, a Beijing-based company, said Sunday that it plans to attract 100 tourists for a five-day cruise from the North's northeastern area of Rason to Mount Kumgang on its east coast.
It said the tour is scheduled to start next Monday and will cost 8,500 yuan (US$1,300).
The move comes more than a month after North Korea started a trial cruise from its northeastern port city of Rajin to Mount Kumgang.
Park Chol-su, head of Daepung International Investment Group, which is responsible for attracting foreign capital, said last month that the North plans to start the cruise tours for ordinary tourists in late October.
North Korea has launched a series of tourism programs for Chinese in an apparent bid to earn much-needed hard currency.
South and North Korea jointly ran the tour program at the resort for a decade before Seoul halted it following the 2008 shooting death of a tourist by a North Korean soldier near the resort.
The North has expelled South Korean workers from Mount Kumgang and legally disposed of all South Korean assets there in anger over the suspension of the joint tour program.
South Korea has asked foreign countries not to invest or engage in tourism activities at the mountain resort as part of its moves to protect its property rights there.
