Land Journey to Mt. Keumkang Is Coming

Everything is going well, from September next year, the domestic and foreign tourists will visit Mt. Keumkang for its beautiful foliage, passing through the DMZ by their own cars or tourist buses.

Hyundai Asan and Chosun Asia-Pacific Peace Committee of the North agreed on the plan to designate the Mt. Keumkang area as a special district for the tourism and promulgate the related legislation in August this year. Hyundai also reached an agreement with North that the company will pay for the tourist fee by the number of the tourists, changing from the current monthly payment of 12 million dollars.

Kim Yun-Kyu, Hyundai Asan CEO, revealed the agreement at a press conference yesterday. Mr. Kim said that the land tourists would drive through the 13.7 km road, from the Unification Observatory to near Samilpo in Koseung, North Korea.

``The construction period might be affected by the mines in the DMZ area, but it will take about 8 months to construct the road and definitely it will be completed by the end of this year,`` said Mr. Kim. The cost for the road construction, estimated up to 100 billion won, seems to be provided from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund.

Mr. Kim said that the North agreed to establish and promulgate the legislation related to the special district designation for the tourism in the Mt. Keumkang area in a couple of months. Therefore, the detail plans of the special district will be revealed by August.

Hyundai Asan will take over the tour business of the Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. Ltd. this month. Until the opening of the land tour, the company will anchor the Keumkang, the cruise ship, in Changjeon harbor to use it as a tourist residence. Instead, the fast ship, the Seolbong, will be used as transportation between the Koreas.

daviskim@donga.com