Asia-Pacific

DPRK orders S Korean employees at Kumgang to leave

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-13 17:20

SEOUL -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has ordered four Korean-Chinese employees of South Korea at the Mount Kumgang resort area to leave the country within 24 hours, following its freeze of South Korean assets there, Seoul's Unification Ministry said Tuesday.

The DPRK also pasted stickers printed "frozen" on the key holes of entrances to five facilities, built and run by the South Korean government and its tourism agency, the ministry said.

The four workers to be deported are ethnic Koreans from China who had been employed as maintenance workers at the family reunion center at Mount Kumgang, and they are expected to return to South Korea Wednesday morning, it added.

The move comes after the DPRK carried out its measures to freeze South Korean assets in the Mount Kumgang resort area earlier Tuesday, which include a family reunion center, a fire department, and some facilities owned by the South Korean Tourism Organization such as a duty-free shop and a cultural center.

"It is regrettable to see North Korea (DPRK) carry out these measures, but we will respond to it accordingly after monitoring the situation," the unification ministry said in a statement.

The DPRK on last Thursday announced plans to freeze some of South Korea's assets in Mount Kumgang, expel South Korean personnel there, nullify a tourism deal with South Korean company Hyundai Asan, and start a new "business enterprise" with a new partner to explore tourism in Mount Kumgang.

In response, South Korea voiced "deep regret" over the DPRK's decision, and required Pyongyang to withdraw these measures.

The ministry reiterated that the DPRK's unilateral move violated agreements set between the operators and governments of both sides, and also infringed international practices.

Tours to Mount Kumgang, launched in 1998 and run by South Korea 's Hyundai Asan Corp., were halted in 2008 soon after a South Korean female tourist was shot dead by a DPRK soldier.

Tours to the border town of Kaesong also were suspended the same year, rapidly souring inter-Korean ties.

The DPRK recently expressed willingness to restart the tourism, but the suggestion was rejected by South Korea, which insisted on an investigation into the tourist's death and the establishment of a mechanism to prevent similar incidents.

The DPRK then launched a survey of South Korean tour operators at the mountain resort, and announced late Thursday that it will scrap the tourism deal with the South and form an enterprise with a new partner.