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.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS