North Korea has threatened to expel the remaining South Korean tourism officials and workers from Kumgang-san. If they get thrown out, at least they won’t get a bullet in the back like Park Wang-ja did. The blurb is here.
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18 Comments
I don’t believe it one bit. It’s all about making South Korean tax payers think that a setback in North-South relations was averted once the whole this has blown over.
From CNN, sounds like it’s a sure thing:
N. Korea to expel S. Koreans from resort
Since we’ve read the news about the shooting, I thought that all tours were cancelled until further notice. Yet yesterday’s Joong Ang Daily reported that tourists were back:
“Meanwhile, South Koreans continued to visit the North’s Kaesong this week. According to Hyundai Asan, the inter-Korean tour company that also operated the Mount Kumgang tour, nearly 1,500 visited Kaesong this week.”
As usual, business is business. The vast majority of South Koreans could care less that hundreds of thousands of their blood brothers and sisters are being tortured in North Korean gulags, financed partially by revenues from these various tourist projects.
No “Chris”, Kumgang Tours are suspended, Kaesong tours are still being scheduled. Tourists have not returned to Kumgang-san and most every Korean I have talked to says they would not go since they would not feel safe going.
Ah, thanks Robert, for setting me straight. I didn’t realize there was more than one such tourist area in the North. And you can call me just Chris, no need for the quotes…
Nice to see all the phony friendship shows between the North and South coming to an end. The false fellowship of marching together as one team into the Olympic stadium will be avoided. Cause to celebrate.
I suggest burning all the blue-and-white peninsula fantasy flags. Perhaps on Wednesday to mark the meeting of the presidents of the USA and SK. That will go over well with the local populace, no doubt.
“reconciliation” is a fantasy.
massive extortion payments to NK have been the reality.
time to cut off the cash pump!
(from the article)
“The unnamed spokesman said the North’s People’s Army will also take action against “even the slightest hostile actions” in and around the tourist zone.”
…meaning even if you fart with your bottom towards the North you will be killed for disrespecting the juche paradise.
I think it’s good news, all south Koreans should leave Kaesong and Geumgang ASAP. The question with the millions invested there in vain remains unsolved though.
amazing how North Korea has actually made the south consider it a privilege to give them aid…Kim Jong Il might be an even better marketer than Steve jobs..
I may not be the first nut to come up with this conspiracy theory, but here goes:
1) Beijing Olympics start next Friday.
2) Everyone knows the South gets such a warm, fuzzy, teary-eyed feeling when the North & South march together in sports tournaments under that bland blue penensula on white flag- the Norks know this very well and can use it to their advantage.
3) An “incident” can be used to threaten the Nork team being pulled from a joint march.
4) Failure of a joint march can used as ammunition against the LMB administration as it could be blamed on him and his policies. Bad publicity is the last thing he needs right now.
5) The Norks can agree to a last minute joint march for a nice, sizable, secret cash payment- we’re talking tens to hundreds of billions of Won. (The South paid 500 billion for the 2000 summit).
There is no way that I can believe anything other than that this woman was shot for some covert reason- that reason being how to get the South to pay the North more money.
This is extortion!
#8: “I think it’s good news, all south Koreans should leave Kaesong and Geumgang ASAP. The question with the millions invested there in vain remains unsolved though.”
I’d argue you make your investment and you take your chances. Anyone willing to invest in Juche-fantasyland should be on a 1-2 yr. ROI horizon tops. I can just imagine John Belushi as KJI: “You f**ked up, you trusted us.”
I just feel sorry for the company putting in a five-star resort in Keumgang. A classic for Harvard B-School’s case studies.
Five-star resort my a$$!
I’ve been there and it ain’t no Club Med!
Luckily, they were smart and the hotel is a floating one- they can just cut the dock ropes and haul it back to the South.
#13: It’s called the Ananti Resort. It’s GM’d by a Northern Irishman named Morton Johnston from GHM.
Here’s the Joongang story:
http://joongangdaily.joins.com.....id=2890390
Whoever bought a golf membership there for 17 million may be crying in their beer at this point.
Ok, then any company who sinks millions or idiot who spends fat cash on memberships into resorts, golf courses, etc. in such a risky, totally greedy, and unpredictable area knew they were taking a big, BIG risk.
If they didn’t realize it, then they are truly morons who won’t be hanging onto riches for long.
Either way, I have no sympathy.
Fools!
this is it folks. Olympics will start real soon now. Will we see North Koreans jumping fences? if it’s not now, it’s never.
This would be the opportune time!
Yet another conspiracy theory. This has some real merit:
The Norks get the ‘reconciliationist’ companies and investors to build all these top notch resorts, golf courses, etc. in NK and then just nationalize them- take them for themselves and cut out the people who paid for and built it. NK has every right to do that as it is their territory.
Damn good plan if you ask me!
These investors are idiots!