Lee In-young and Hyun Jung-eun Meet to "Seek Normalization of Geumgangsan Tourism"

Minister of Unification Lee In-young is meeting with Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun on the afternoon of the 1st at his office in the Government Seoul Office Building, greeting each other with a fist bump.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Lee In-young, Minister of Unification, reaffirmed his commitment to resume tourism to Mount Kumgang during a meeting with Hyun Jeong-eun, Chairwoman of Hyundai Group.

On the afternoon of the 1st, Minister Lee met with Chairwoman Hyun and Hyundai Group executives, the operators of the Mount Kumgang tourism project, at his office in the Government Seoul Office Complex, stating, "Our intention to promote individual tourism to Mount Kumgang once the COVID-19 situation improves remains clear and unchanged."

He continued, "The normalization of Mount Kumgang tourism was already agreed upon in the Pyongyang Joint Declaration of September 2018, and the government maintains the view that it must actively implement this without change," adding, "From a humanitarian perspective, it would be good to start with individual visits by separated families and displaced persons, and later expand cooperation spaces to Wonsan and Masikryong."

He also emphasized, "Although there are difficulties due to the current COVID-19 situation, if Mount Kumgang reopens, we are willing to proceed with renovation work on related facilities such as the separated families' reunion center," and stressed, "If South and North Korea meet, we can jointly explore a more advanced path to normalize (Mount Kumgang tourism)."

Minister Lee expressed hope that the recent South Korea-U.S. summit would create "good conditions for dialogue and cooperation," and anticipated that "the role, space, and scope of inter-Korean relations could be significantly expanded."

In response, Chairwoman Hyun said, "We also have high expectations following the South Korea-U.S. summit," and added, "I hope inter-Korean relations improve so that Mount Kumgang tourism and the Kaesong Industrial Complex can resume quickly. Hyundai will do its best."

Meanwhile, Minister Lee is scheduled to meet on the 4th with Lee Joong-myung, Chairman of the Ananti Group and President of the Korea Golf Association, who is involved in North Korea tourism projects such as the construction of a golf course at Mount Kumgang, to exchange views on the future direction of the projects.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.