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NK Threatens to Freeze Inter-Korean Reunion Center

Posted April. 02, 2010 16:56,   

한국어

North Korea has threatened to freeze a reunion center for separated Korean families after finishing a survey on South Korean-owned land in the Mount Kumgang tourist district.

A South Korean government official said yesterday, “A North Korean official of the Landmark Comprehensive Development Agency said it will freeze the properties of those who failed to take part in the survey.”

The North told South Korean businessmen who visited the North last week, “South Korean authorities should attend the investigation by March 31.” Yet Seoul never responded to the request, saying the reunion facility is not for tourism.

The North, however, did not specify what the freeze will mean and how and when it will freeze the property. It also did not officially notify the South Korean government of the matter.

If Pyongyang takes the “drastic measures” it has threatened of, it could mean a ban on South Korean visits to the reunion center or expulsion of Hyundai Asan staff, to whom the North outsourced the management of the facilities.

A South Korean government official said, “(The real estate survey and the freeze on the reunion center) violate an inter-Korean agreement. We need to tackle this issue through talks between the two sides.”



kyle@donga.com