Hyundai To Ferry Tourists To North Korea

Hyundai Group will start ferrying foreign tourists to North Korea's fabled Kumgang Mountain starting on Oct. 23, the group announced. "We have issued invitations to about 20 to 30 diplomats, businessmen and other foreigners currently residing in Korea," said Hyundai Group spokesman Yoo Keun-chan. He said they included Jeffrey Jones, the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea. Jones said last week his business group was planning a ground-breaking trip north of the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas to examine business opportunities, after Washington relaxed long-standing trade sanctions against the communist Pyongyang. Hyundai began ferrying tourists from South to North Korea in November 1998, in what is considered the most significant result of the Seoul's engagement policy with Pyongyang. However, up until now, North Korea has not allowed other nationalities on the trips to what is considered to be the North's most picturesque mountain range. Yoo said foreign passport-holders of Korean origin would also be allowed to visit the Kumgang, or Diamond, Mountains. Hyundai officials said the company has finalized negotiations to start bringing non-Korean tourists to North Korea, after Hyundai's founder and honorary chairman Chung Ju-yong received the blessing of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il earlier this month. The two Koreas remain technically at war, after the 1950-53 Korea War ended in a truce rather than a peace agreement.