SEOUL: North Korea attempted on Sunday to lure
foreign tourists to the hermit country to help celebrate a major anniversary,
pledging to make "every possible sincere efforts" to show visitors a
good time.
Preparations
are under way at the scenic Mount Kumgang to arrange transport and lodging for
foreigners who have apparently showed "keen interest" in visiting the
communist nuclear-armed nation.
There
are no official figures on how many foreign tourists visit North Korea each
year, but their cash -- the North charges exorbitant prices for everything from
beer to accommodation -- is a major boon to the moribund economy.
The
resort at Mount Kumgang, where a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a
soldier in July 2008 after allegedly straying from the area, was developed by
the South Korean giant Hyundai Asan and opened in 1998.
It once
earned the impoverished North tens of millions of dollars a year from South
Koreans eager to see the other half of the Korean peninsula, but the tours have
been banned since the fatal shooting of the South Korean housewife.
The
development, which has since been deserted, "is fully open to all tourists
in the blooming best tour season of April", a spokesman for the tourism
authority in the Mount Kumgang area told state media KCNA.
The
spokesman pledged "all kinds of special privileges" to tour firms
willing to go there, stressing the North was in celebratory mood for the
centenary of the birth of its founding president, Kim Il-Sung, on April 15.
"We
welcome all the tourists coming to Mount Kumgang and will make every possible
sincere efforts to let them spend pleasant days in the best scenic spot,"
said the spokesman.
The
resort in the coastal Mount Kumgang was developed with South Korean money as a
symbol of reconciliation between the two Koreas, who are still technically at
war after the 1950-53 conflict ended only in an armistice.
But the
2008 shooting there and a general deterioration in ties has seen the North and
South fail to agree to find a compromise on tour groups from South Korea
returning.
Frustrated
with the long stalemate and desperate for foreign cash, Pyongyang last year
stripped Hyundai Asan of its exclusive right to run tours to the idyllic area
that boasts breathtaking views, lush vegetation and waterfalls.
Foreign
tourists face immense restrictions on visits to North Korea, which can
ordinarily only be made as part of a closely watched tour group. Most areas of
the country are off-limits and visitors are forbidden to talk to the locals.
Pyongyang
on Sunday renewed criticism of what it called South Korea's "grave
provocation" over Mount Kumgang. Seoul has been lobbying for a blanket ban
on all foreign tourists going there.
The
North is set to lavishly commemorate the anniversary with various festivals and
events including the launch of a satellite that has drawn widespread
condemnation from the international community.
Pyongyang
insists it is a peaceful space project but Washington and Seoul see it as a
disguised missile test banned under UN resolutions.
The
North, which desperately needs foreign aid to feed its 24 million people,
slammed Saturday the US suspension of food aid over the disputed launch,
calling the move an "overreaction".
The
communist regime under the late ruler Kim Jong-Il set 2012 as the year to
become a "strong and prosperous nation".
-
AFP/fa
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