S. Korea calls for dialogue with N. Korea on suspended tour

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Nov. 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea expressed hopes Monday for the resumption
of cross-border tours to Mount Geumgang on North Korea's eastern coast as the two
sides mark a gloomy anniversary this week of the launch of the now-suspended
business.
A ferry carrying South Korean tourists set historic sail toward the scenic
mountain on Nov. 18 a decade ago as a token of burgeoning inter-Korean
reconciliation.
But the tour program has been idled for months following the July 14 shooting
death of a South Korean housewife visiting the area by a North Korean soldier,
renewing tensions on the divided peninsula.
South Korean officials, however, said the two Koreas' joint venture could be
revived any time through consultations.
"If South and North Korea meet and have consultations, it will certainly produce
a resolution that can be accepted by both sides, thus opening the way for the
resumption of the tour to Mount Geumgang," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim
Ho-nyoun said.
But the problem is North Korea keeps balking at any government-level talks with
the South, he added, although periodic civilian and political exchanges continue.
A delegation of South Korea's progressive Democratic Labor Party is on a trip to
Pyongyang at the invitation of the (North) Korean Social Democratic Party
North Korea claims the conservative Lee Myung-bak government in the South is to
blame for the icy inter-Korean ties after a decade of rapprochement under its
liberal predecessors. The Lee administration favors reciprocity in economic
cooperation with the North.
The North Korean authorities also take issue with South Korean activists sending
anti-North Korean leaflets across the border, threatening to retaliate by
expelling South Korean workers from the joint industrial complex in the border
town of Kaesong.
The North's military announced last week that it will strictly control border
crossings starting from Dec. 1, possibly putting in jeopardy the Kaesong
enterprise and South Koreans' daily sightseeing of the ancient city, the only
remaining regular inter-Korean tour.
The government is working on a countermeasure against the spreading of leaflets.
"We are reviewing various ways to control it," Kim said. "We are looking for a
legal ground." He gave no more details.
He said the North has not responded yet to the South's latest olive branch.
In a fax message sent by the Defense Ministry, the South proposed talks last
Thursday with the North on providing materials and equipment necessary to improve
military communications.
On the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, the spokesman said the
government has no "new facts to confirm."
The North's state news agency reported over the weekend that Kim attended two
performances by the military but did not release a photo or video clip. Kim, 66,
is believed to have suffered a stroke in August. He has since remained out of
public view.
lcd@yna.co.kr