A delegation of Hyundai Asan officials, including President Cho Gun-sik, will visit North Korea on August 4 to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the death of former Hyundai Group Chairman Chung Mong-hun.
On August 3, the Ministry of Unification gave the nod to Hyundai Asan officials’ trip to the Mount Kumgang resort on N. Korea’s east coast. According to the ministry, a delegation of 22 high-ranking officials will cross the demilitarized zone to hold a memorial service for late Hyundai Group Chairman Chung on August 4. “Given that Hyundai Asan has annually held a memorial service for late Chairman Chung, we’ve approved their request,” said the ministry.
“The S. Korea government has approved Hyundai Asan’s plan (to visit North Korea) out of humanitarian consideration because their trip is purely intended to hold a memorial service,” said Unification Ministry spokeswoman Park Soo-jin.
Last year, Hyundai Group Chairman Hyun Jeong-eun and 24 officials paid a visit to Mount Kumgang. It’s known that Chairman Hyun is not going to join the delegation this year.
The delegation will visit North Korea on August 4 at 9:20 a.m. through the Donghae Inter-Korean Transit Office in Gangwon Province and return to S. Korea at 4:10 p.m. It’s also known that the delegation will inspect the safety conditions of the Mount Kumgang facility after holding a memorial service.
Meanwhile, the Mount Kumgang tourism program has been shut down since the shooting death of South Korean tourist Park Wang-ja by North Korean guards in the wee hours of July 11, 2008. Hyundai Asan, the S. Korean developer of Mount Kumgang tourism, is estimated to have incurred a cumulative loss of over KRW 1 trillion in June. The number of Hyundai Asan employees has shrunk from 1,084 to 262.
