09-151.pdf

7.4 Expansion of Inter-Korean Exchanges,
Military Talks and Prospects for Peace
In the early 2000s, Panmunjom had become somewhat less
important for North-South contacts due to the opening of one
corridor in the west in 2001 and one in the east in 2002 for contacts
and cooperation that included the Kaesông Industrial Complex and
Mt. Kûmgang tours just north of the DMZ. The latter project began
thanks to an agreement reached between the Hyundai Group
Honorary Chairman, Chung Ju-yung, and North Korean leader Kim
Jong Il in October 1998; Hyundai would pay $ 942m to North Korea
for the project over a six-year period. On November 18, 1998, 826
South Korean tourists were the first since national division in 1945 to
travel by passenger ferry from Tonghae to Changjôn in North Korea.
This tourist project, operated by the Hyundai Company, marked the
beginning of regular tourist exchanges between the two Koreas but
whereas in July 2003, 46,611 South Koreans had visited the North
since 1989, only 2,797 North Koreans had travelled to South Korea
(this figure excludes Mt. Kûmgang tours). Among the 30,248 South
Koreans who had visited North Korea between 1989 and April 2002,
27,843 went there from 1998 onwards. This expansion of visits, even
though the number is extremely low, implies that both Koreas wished
to create some form of peaceful coexistence, but the South wanted it
more than the North.
In the case of Mt. Kûmgang tours, these have continued with the
exception of the interruption of tours for a few days after the June 15,
1999 West Sea battle. This battle resulted from the detention of a
South Korean housewife who had allegedly attempted to entice a
Expanding Relations but Continuing Tension since 2000
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