North Korea has agreed to allow South Koreans to tour a scenic mountain on its territory bordering China beginning next year in an expansion of tourism business between the two Koreas.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency reported late Saturday that organizers from both nations had agreed in Pyongyang to launch tours of Mount Paekdu that will begin next May.
The deal was a follow-up to the summit agreement between the two Korean leaders last month to set up the first direct flights between Seoul and Mount Paekdu to boost tourism in the region. But both sides had then failed to set a timeline.
EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS
A South Korean survey team will visit the scenic mountain to work out details, according to the South's Hyundai Group, which says it has won 50-year exclusive rights for business in Mount Paekdu from the North.
"My trip to the North was very productive," Hyundai Group chief Hyun Jung-eun told journalists Saturday after returning from her five-day trip to North Korea to sign the deal with Pyongyang.
Mount Paekdu, at 2,744m, is the highest peak on the Korean Peninsula. It has hot springs and other natural scenery.
The mountain is revered by most Koreans as the birthplace of Korea's first ancient kingdom, known as Gojoseon.
The North has frequently used the mountain's sacred image to help build up a personality cult for Kim's family.
In recent years, a growing number of South Koreans have been heading to the mountain by traveling through northeastern China. Industrial estimates put the number of South Koreans who take the roundabout tour at 100,000 every year.
China owns half the mountain, called Changbaishan in Chinese.
China has stepped up development of the area in an apparent bid to list it as a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site and to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.
BUSINESS TIES
Hyundai has maintained close business ties with Pyongyang since its 1998 launch of a cross-border tour of Mount Kumgang, which is on North Korea's east coast.
More than a million South Koreans have since visited the mountain.
Hyundai has since extended its business into tours and development in North Korea's border town of Kaesong, where a South Korea-funded industrial complex is continuing to expand.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS