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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Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 24th July, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Russian authorities said 11 people, including four children, had been killed by Ukraine in an overnight attack on a holiday camp, accusing Kyiv on Saturday of deliberately targeting civilians.
The U.S. military said it completed a fresh wave of strikes on Iran late on Thursday, marking the 13th consecutive night of American attacks. The latest operation lasted more than two hours, according to U.S. Central Command.
Spain has declared a national emergency and evacuated more than 10,000 people after uncontrolled wildfires reached the outskirts of Madrid. Emergency crews have rescued residents as multiple blazes continue to spread across the region.
Six candidates vying to become the next United Nations Secretary-General have called for restoring the organisation's credibility, strengthening multilateralism and reforming the UN, during the first public town hall debate ahead of a decisive Security Council vote next week.
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Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have signed regional and commercial agreements worth more than 80 billion tenge ($146 million). The deals aim to expand cooperation between the two Central Asian neighbors in trade, transport, industry and cross-border development.
UN Secretary General António Guterres arrived in Damascus on Saturday for the first trip to Syria by a serving United Nations' chief since 2009, before the start of a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.
More than 100 Afghan business representatives travelled to Uzbekistan this week for a business forum aimed at expanding trade and investment, as Uzbek investors also expressed interest in Afghanistan’s mining sector.
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