Seoul mulling non-cash payments to N. Korea for tour programs: official

By Tony Chang
SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Yonhap) -- Seoul is considering handing out non-cash payments to
North Korea for allowing tour programs in the country, seeking to raise
transactional transparency in light of U.N. sanctions imposed on the North for
its nuclear tests, senior officials here said Thursday.
North Korea, currently under U.N. financial sanctions for its nuclear and missile
tests in spring, has been nudging the South to reopen cross-border tours to its
Mount Kumgang resort.
Seoul suspended the program, a major source of dollars for the cash-strapped
country, after a tourist was shot and killed in July last year after wandering
into a restricted military zone. The government has not yet announced a decision
on whether it will resume the program.
A ranking government official, when asked about concerns over Seoul handing out
hard cash in exchange for allowing the tour program, said on the condition
anonymity that "the matter is relevant to the U.N. Security Council resolution
1874."
The resolution, adopted after North Korea's missile and nuclear tests this
spring, is aimed at preventing Pyongyang from obtaining cash for the development
of weapons of mass destruction.
Another senior official said that there was a need to "raise transparency in the
current cash-payment method as Resolution 1874 is geared towards cutting cash
supply channels."
The Mount Kumgang tours have earned the North US$487 million in tour fees since
they began in 1998. More than 1.9 million South Koreans have visited the
picturesque mountain on North Korea's southeast coast.
Seoul does not consider that the tour program to the North an infringement upon
resolution 1874, Chun Hae-sung, spokesman for the Unification Ministry, said.
"The issue of changing the method of payment could be discussed when the two
sides decide to hold talks on resuming the tour program," Chun said at a press
briefing.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)