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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Norks Seize S.Korean Facilities in Mt. Kumgang |
| 2010-04-28 |
| North Korea seized South Korean government properties in the Mt. Kumgang resort area on Tuesday, as announced on March 23. About 20 North Korean officials, including the director of the General Scenic Spots Development and Guidance Bureau Kim Kwang-yoon, made the rounds of five properties owned by the South Korean government and the Korea Tourism Organization, including a meeting hall for separated families and a hot spring spa. They seized the properties by replacing labels "frozen," which had been pasted on the gates on April 13, with new labels reading "seized," the Unification Ministry said. Slow motion seizure, they've been doing this for a while ... The North also froze assets owned by 25 South Korean businesses such as shops and the spa in the Mt. Kumgang Hotel. The North vowed to seize other properties by April 30. It is expected to freeze the assets of tour operator Hyundai Asan, the biggest investor in Mt. Kumgang, on April 29, including the Mt. Kumgang Hotel and Oekumgang (outer Kumgang) Hotel. Hyundai Asan had invested a total of W226.3 billion (US$1=W1,110) in the facilities. Package tours to Mt. Kumgang have been suspended since a South Korean tourist was shot dead on July 11, 2008. Right after the incident, the South Korean government demanded that the North clarify the truth, guarantee safety for South Korean tourists, and promise to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents. But the North has refused. After Pyongyang in January proposed inter-Korean talks to discuss resumption of tours, the two Koreas met in February for the first time in a year and seven months after tours were suspended but failed to narrow their differences. After the talks broke down, the North started piling on the threats, vowing to cancel all contracts with South Korea (March 4); to take "a decisive measure" (March 17); and to seize South Korean property in Mt. Kumgang (March 18). On March 25-31, it summoned South Korean business investors to the Mt. Kumgang area to attend what it billed as a real estate "survey." |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 Hunger has been known to be a strong motivator. All the food is down south. All the starving people are up north. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-04-28 20:00 |
| #1 Strikes me as two countries contemplating war and hoping like heck someone will stop them. |
| Posted by: Kelly 2010-04-28 19:58 |