North, South Korea fail to agree on cross-border tourism

Seoul - Officials from North and South Korea on Monday again failed to agree on resuming cross-border tours after more than one year on ice. Monday's talks, which lasted less than two hours, ended "without any significant agreement," as North Korea refused to accept Seoul's demands for a resumption, according to a spokesman of South Korea's Unification Ministry.

Tours to Mount Kumgang and the historic city of Kaesong in North Korea, which were suspected in July 2008 after a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a northern soldier, had helped the cash-strapped Stalinist state to raise much-needed foreign funds.

The Pyongyang delegation once more rejected Seoul's demands for an on-site investigation of the tourist's death, the Yonhap news agency quoted Chun Hae Sung as saying.

"The North Korean side responded by reiterating its earlier stance on the matter," he said.

Seoul demanded that Pyongyang guarantee the safety of its tourists before resuming the tours, Chun said.

North Korea suggested the new round of talks in mid-January. It called for a "quick resumption" of the tours that had attracted several million South Koreans, Chun said.

No date for a new round of talks has been set.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308052,north-south-korea-fail-to-agree-on-cross-border-tourism.html.