North Korea Rebuffs Hyundai Visit

Two executives of Hyundai Asan who were supposed to discuss a Mt. Baekdu tourism project in North Korea were denied permission to visit Pyongyang.

This action can be explained by the North Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee’s announcement that it would revisit all of North Korea’s business ventures with Hyundai.

Kim Yoon-kyu, Hyundai Asan`s former vice chairman and one of the figures behind the soured relations between the North and Hyundai, is due to arrive in South Korea on October 22.

Hyundai Asan said on October 21 that plans to visit North Korea for a paint delivery event aimed to enhance Pyongyang’s environment organized by South’s Korea Tourism Organization from October 22 to 25 was cancelled because two of the three executives who were planning to attend were denied permission to enter the North.

An official from Hyundai Asan said, “One executive who wrote the purpose of visit as ‘paint delivery’ received an invitation, but the two executives who stated ‘to discuss the Mt. Baekdu tourism project’ as the trip’s purpose failed to receive an invitation from the North.”

Meanwhile, it was confirmed that former vice chairman Kim, who has been staying in Qingdao, China since his departure on September 23, will arrive at Incheon International Airport aboard a Korean Air flight.

Joong-Hyun Park Myoung-Gun Lee sanjuck@donga.com gun43@donga.com