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(LEAD) S. Koreans to visit N. Korea as Pyongyang moves to freeze their assets
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, April 26 (Yonhap) -- Dozens of South Korean business officials will visit North Korea this week to comply with Pyongyang's demand that they be present when the communist state freezes their assets at a joint mountain resort, officials said Monday, amid fears of further confiscation.
North Korea already confiscated five South Korean government-run facilities, including a family reunion center and a fire station, at its Mount Kumgang resort on the east coast last week.
The move reflected Pyongyang's anger over Seoul's refusal to resume cross-border tours that were halted in 2008 after the fatal shooting of a South Korean tourist by a North Korean guard near the resort.
North Korea insists it has done everything to explain the shooting and guarantee safety for future South Korean visitors. South Korea doubts the genuineness of the gestures, demanding an on-site probe participated in by its officials and tangible safety measures.
The tours earned millions of U.S. dollars for the sanctions-hit North Korean regime before they were suspended. The North Korean demand for their resumption comes as the isolated state struggles to curb its economic troubles that deepened under U.N. sanctions imposed for its two nuclear tests, the latest in May last year.
An official at Hyundai Asan, the chief South Korean operator of the now-suspended tours, said 40 people from 31 companies, including his own, applied for permits to visit North Korea on Tuesday.
The North last week demanded "real estate proprietors and agents" attend the implementation of its plan to freeze their assets, which include hotels, a golf course and a variety of shops.
Officials at the Unification Ministry in Seoul said they plan to grant the permits.
"It is our basic stance that we respect the decisions of the companies," spokesman Chun Hae-sung said.
Dozens of South Korean firms possess 360 billion won (US$320 million) worth of real estate in the mountain tourist zone.
During a meeting with Hyundai Asan officials stationed at the resort Monday morning, North Korea did not specify which companies should attend the freeze this week, a ministry official here said.
"The North Korean authorities remained ambiguous," the official said, declining to be identified. "That will leave the door open for anyone wanting to visit North Korea this week."
South Koreans fear Pyongyang may be taking steps to confiscate more South Korean assets. The North seized the Seoul government-run facilities 10 days after freezing them and expelling personnel.
South Korea has pledged retaliatory measures without being specific. A senior Unification Ministry official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Monday the measures would be announced by early May.
South Korea also warned North Korea will be to blame for any further deterioration of relations between the divided states.
The unraveling of the joint tourism project comes amid increasing suspicions that North Korea may be behind the March 26 sinking of a South Korean naval corvette that killed 46 sailors. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has pledged a stern response for whoever is responsible, while the North has denied involvement.
The two countries remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce instead of a peace treaty. After a decade of warming, their ties turned frosty in early 2008 when Lee took office with a get-tough policy on the North's nuclear arms programs.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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