South Korea considers individual tours in bid to improve ties with North Korea

South Korea is looking at various ways to improve relations with North Korea, a Unification Ministry spokesperson said on Monday, after local media reported that Seoul was considering allowing individual tours to the North.

Koo Byung-sam, spokesperson for the ministry handling inter-Korean affairs, declined to comment on “a particular issue” but said individual tours were not considered a violation of international sanctions.

Tourism is one of the few legal sources of foreign currency for North Korea, which is under United Nations sanctions over its nuclear and weapons programmes.

President Lee Jae Myung has pledged to improve relations with Pyongyang, which are at their lowest point in years. 

Lee has recently suspended anti-North Korea loudspeaker broadcasts along the border and ordered the suspension of leaflet campaigns by activists criticising the North’s leadership.

North Korea last week opened a beach resort in Wonsan, a flagship tourism project promoted by leader Kim Jong Un, but it is not currently accepting foreign visitors, according to a 16 July notice from DPR Korea Tour, run by the North’s National Tourism Administration.

Asked whether South Koreans could travel to Wonsan, Koo said the North would first need to open the site to foreign visitors.

Seoul previously operated tours to the North’s Mount Kumgang resort, but they were suspended in 2008 after a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier.

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