S. Korea resumes cruise tour to North<\/p>\n
SEOUL (AFP): South Korea, seeking to mend ragged ties with
\nNorth Korea, on Sunday allowed the resumption of suspended cruise
\nboat tours to the famine-stricken nation despite its growing
\nmissile threat.<\/p>\n
South Korean tourists will be allowed to visit North Korea's
\nscenic Mount Kumgang resort site this week, the unification
\nministry said.<\/p>\n
The green light came after tour operators, the giant Hyundai
\nGroup, secured a new guarantee from North Korea on the personal
\nsafety of South Korean tourists.<\/p>\n
The ministry said the resumption reflected South Korea's
\nefforts to improve ties with North Korea which has boycotted
\ninter-Korean talks on family reunions over a naval battle between
\nthe two Koreas, still technically at war.<\/p>\n
\"It will also contribute to easing growing tensions over North
\nKorea's preparations to test-fire a new ballistic missile,\" it
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The ministry, however, indicated the tours could falter again
\nif North Korea went ahead with its missile launch.<\/p>\n
Pyongyang last August fired a medium-range rocket over Japan,
\nprompting warnings in Washington and Seoul that a further launch
\nwould lead to the severance of an aid lifeline for North Korea.<\/p>\n
The tour project, launched by Hyundai last November, was
\nsuspended on June 20 when North Korea detained a South Korean
\nhousewife for allegedly trying to entice a North Korean nature
\nwarden into defecting while on a cruise visit.<\/p>\n
\"The government decided to resume the tour as we judged that
\nthe safety of tourists would be guaranteed in a more secure
\nmanner,\" Hwang Ha-Soo, a ministry official, said.<\/p>\n
Hyundai was also allowed to remit US$8 million to North Korea
\nfor entrance fees and other expenses, he said.<\/p>\n
The tours had taken some 86,000 South Koreans to North Korea,
\nearning the impoverished country more than $150 million in
\ndesperately-needed foreign exchange.<\/p>\n
Under an agreement signed last week in Beijing, North Korea
\nwill deport any South Korean tourists who make provocative
\nremarks during tours to Kumgang, the ministry said.<\/p>\n
The agreement spelled out the level of fines in case of
\nviolations by tourists and called for Hyundai and North Korea to
\nform a steering committee to handle serious crimes.<\/p>\n
The agreement contained more concrete terms on the protection
\nof tourists, South Korean officials said.<\/p>\n
The tours were suspended when Min Young-Mi, a 36-year-old
\nmother-of-two, was detained for bragging about the prosperous
\nlives of two successful North Korean defectors living in the
\ncapitalist South.<\/p>\n
Pyongyang has insisted she was a spy. But it has promised to
\ngo ahead with the tours.<\/p>\n
Min's detention came as inter-Korean tensions were ratcheted
\nup over a clash in the Yellow Sea between South and North Korean
\ngunboats that left a northern torpedo boat sunk and five other
\nvessels seriously damaged.<\/p>\n
The sea conflict also led to the rupture of inter-Korean talks
\nin July on the issue of reuniting families separated by the
\ndivision of the peninsula in 1945 and the 1950-53 conflict.<\/p>",
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