S. Korea bans humanitarian visits to North

(ATTN: UPDATES with detail, MODIFIES lead)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, May 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea banned its citizens from visiting North
Korea in response to the North's second nuclear test on Monday, with the
exception of those visiting a joint industrial venture, a spokesman said.

"In consideration of our citizens' safety in the wake of North Korea's nuclear
test, the government will suspend visits to North Korea for the time being,"
Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said in a press briefing.
The ban applies to humanitarian aid workers, politicians and civic activists, who
have crossed the military demarcation line almost daily since relations thawed a
decade ago.
The decision reinforced Seoul's earlier policy issued after the North's April 5
rocket launch to selectively approve non-governmental visits.
The Kaesong complex in the North's border town of Kaesong, just an hour's drive
from Seoul, is the last surviving reconciliatory project between the two Koreas,
with other ventures -- tourism programs to the North's scenic Mount Kumgang
resort and historic sites in Kaesong -- all suspended last year due to unraveling
political relations.
The venture currently hosts 106 South Korean firms that produce clothes,
utensils, electronic equipment and other labor-intensive goods with more than
40,000 North Korean workers. Their output reached US$250 million last year.
The government will also allow scores of maintenance workers to stay at the Mount
Kumgang resort to attend to its tourism facilities, Chun said.
Still, the government recommends that businesses "voluntarily reduce visits" to
Kaesong and the Kumgang resort for safety reasons, Chun said.
Humanitarian workers expressed concern, with their aid operations going into
limbo due to political relations. Ahn Sun-kyong, a member of Green One Korea, a
Seoul-based organization that grows trees in the North, said the group, which
planned to bring insecticides to the North's Mount Kumgang on Tuesday, has to
cancel its visit.
"We regret North Korea's nuclear test, but we are also worried about our mission.
It seems the Unification Ministry will hold on to this policy, and our projects
this year will remain uncertain," she said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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