North Korea’s de facto rejection of a meeting with the South Korean authorities to discuss the problem of Mt Geumgang tourism has been described as unfortunate by officials in Seoul.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Unification told reporters in a briefing today, “The government suggested this meeting between the two authorities to deal with the Mt Geumgang tourism problem and safeguard the assets of our enterprises. Unfortunately, we think that by unilaterally demanding simply that our enterprises deal with their assets, North Korea has in reality rejected the talks proposal.”
“Now, North Korea is deciding things unilaterally and insisting that South Korean enterprises come to Mt Geumgang to proceed with measures under the Mt Geumgang Special International Tourist Zone Law. When we look at the contents of the press conference reported by the Chosun Central News Agency and the notification sent by the North yesterday, it means that the July 29th suggestion has been rejected,” the spokesperson continued.
On the 25th, the South Korean authorities, appearing to be buoyed by inter-Korean contacts over the weekend, suggested a meeting on the 29th; however, while North Korea made no formal comment, they did reiterate their original demand, namely that South Korean entrepreneurs appear at Mt Geumgang by the 29th to deal with their assets, an idea the South Korean authorities conclude amounted to a de facto rejection of their own proposal
The Ministry of Unification official, commenting further, added of this, “Since we cannot accept the demand to deal with assets, the 29th South-North talks collapsed.”
