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North Korea’s recent measures surrounding Mt. Geumgang tourism are “an act inflicting an even bigger wound on already-wounded inter-Korean relations,” according to Minister of Unification Hyun In Taek.
Speaking at a meeting of experts organized by ruling GNP lawmaker Lee Eun Jae this morning, Hyun attacked the North Korean stance, saying, “At the moment, North Korea is neither accepting nor taking responsibility for any one of its mistakes or wrongdoings.”
“North Korea is inflicting disappointment on us once again at a time when even our private organizations are stepping forward to give them flood relief aid,” he added. “North Korea’s disposal of South Korean assets in the Mt. Geumgang area and expulsion of personnel are foolish measures that obviously harm inter-Korean relations but are also injurious to North Korea itself,”
“It is impossible not to ask what state, what enterprise, what individual would trust and invest in a North Korea which betrays even the slightest trust.”
Elsewhere, speaking about the ongoing legislative battle over the North Korean Human Rights Act, Hyun noted that the act is one which “looks to our future, directed at democracy, human rights and freedom,” while he also mused, “The basis for dealing with inter-Korean relations and unification issues is to ‘know correctly about North Korea.’ Of course, how inter-Korean relations go now is important in terms of prospects for the upcoming unified future.”
