S. Korea to seek resumption of North Korean tours: culture ministry

SEOUL, Feb. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea needs to do more to promote its tourism
sector, including resuming tours to a North Korean mountain resort suspended last
summer, the culture and tourism ministry said Tuesday in its self-assessment for
the first year of the Lee Myung-bak administration.
The tourism deficit declined from US$10 billion in 2007 to $3.6 billion last
year, and the number of foreign visitors increased by nearly 500,000 people last
year due to promotion efforts and deregulation, the ministry said.
"But we have much more work to do, including that of resuming tours to Mount
Geumgang," Kwak Young-jin, head of the ministry's planning and coordination
bureau, told a press briefing
"We are hoping to resume the program soon, but the ongoing inter-Korean tension
may hamper such efforts."
A South Korean traveler was shot dead by a North Korean soldier in July last year
near Mount Geumgang, a scenic resort on the North's east coast. The incident
drastically increased tension between Seoul's conservative Lee government and
Pyongyang and led to immediate suspension of the decade-old business that served
as a symbol of reconciliation efforts between the divided countries.
"Despite the U.S.-triggered economic difficulties, the culture ministry has
managed to perform reasonably well in developing the cultural contents industry,
tourism deregulation and expanding cultural services to the public," Kwak added.
The ministry said South Korea has reached its $1 billion-goal in digital games
exports, and has constructed and repaired over 600 public libraries and art
museums.
In the coming years, the ministry plans to continue working on revising the
copyright law, establishing an artists' support system, and creating the
so-called "cultural creation belt" around Seoul and the adjacent Gyeonggi region.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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