Officials Hail North On Unguided Tours

Officials in Seoul on Thursday hailed the North's agreement to lift some restrictions at its Mt. Kumgang resort area, saying that it would boost inter-Korean tourism projects.

"North and South Korea reached agreement in principle to open up Kaesong and Mt. Kumgang to unguided tours and we plan to hold more talks on the matter in the near future," a Culture and Tourism Ministry official said. "Although many things still have to be resolved, we believe that it will be realized."

The plan, agreed to during a visit by South Korea's culture and tourism minister, Kim Han-gill, would enable South Korean visitors to the tourism sites to move about freely, without guides, in the two areas.

Hundreds of thousands of people have visited the scenic mountain in tours conducted by the Hyundai group since 1998, but their activities were heavily restricted.

Hyundai officials said that if the North hopes to open up the Mt. Kumgang region, it could do so easily by developing Naegeumgang, the western part of the mountain.

Furthermore, if the Kyongui railroad is reopened, officials said it would take only 90 minutes to reach Kaesong from Seoul.

Officials said North Korea seemed to be open to the idea because they have earned a lot of foreign currency through the Mt. Kumgang and because it is possible to open Kaesong without exposing many of its people to outside influences.

"At the moment, generating a lot of revenue from the project seems unlikely as we do not know whether the North will allow freedom of movement for non-Koreans as well, but the new scheme has symbolic meaning by allowing people to cross the Demilitarized Zone," said Lee Youn-taek, president of the Korea Tourism Research Institute.

by Kim Sae-joon