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| ▲ This image of tourists at the Kalma coastal tourist zone in Wonsan was captured from the Korean Central Television on July 16, 2025. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) |
S Korea-NK tourism
Seoul says reviewing measures to improve ties with N.K. amid report on individual trips to North
SEOUL, July 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is reviewing various measures to ease tensions and improve ties with North Korea, the unification ministry said Monday, following a news report that permitting individual trips to the North is under consideration.
"The government is formulating and pursuing North Korea policies with the goal of easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula and improving inter-Korean ties, with various measures under consideration in the process," the unification ministry said in a press release.
The reaction follows a report by the Dong-A Ilbo daily that the Lee Jae Myung administration is considering resuming individual trips to North Korea as a negotiating card to reopen dialogue with Pyongyang.
The newspaper said Lee mentioned the idea during a National Security Council meeting held on July 10, and that the government subsequently begun a related review on feasibility and other issues, quoting a senior official as describing the review as a "long-term" one.
Trips to North Korea, once a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation, have been suspended since 2008, when a South Korean female tourist was shot to death by North Korean soldiers while visiting the North's Mount Kumgang resort on the east coast. Pyongyang claimed she had entered an off-limits military area.
Unification Ministry spokesperson Koo Byoung-sam said at a press briefing that individual trips to North Korea, which are paid for on a per-expense basis, do not violate international sanctions against the country.
U.N. Security Council resolutions ban the provision of financial services to North Korea, including bulk cash, that could contribute to the regime's prohibited development of nuclear and missile programs.
After lifting COVID-19 border restrictions, and resuming rail and flight services with Russia and China, North Korea appears to be striving to attract overseas travelers as a way to earn much-needed foreign currency. The country opened the Kalma beach resort area in the eastern coastal city of Wonsan in early July.
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