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Members of the Geumgangsan Love Movement hold a campaign in downtown Seoul on October 27. Yonhap
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Tourist program at N.K. mountain in peril since nuclear test
Civic organizations have raised their voices over the need to maintain the tour program at North Korea's Mt. Geumgang. The program has been in jeopardy since North Korea's nuclear test on October 9.
Civic groups, such as the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, led by former unification minister Jeong Se-hyun, the Civil-Headquarters for Activating South-North Economic Cooperation in Korea, led by Lee Jang-hi, and the Geumgangsan Love Movement, released a joint statement saying, "The Mt. Geumgang tourism and Gaeseong (Kaesong) Industrial Complex projects should be maintained, because they have laid the foundation for South-North reconciliation and peace." The groups appealed to citizens to participate in the movement to save Mt. Geumgang tourism.
Emeritus professor Paik Nak-chung of Seoul National University, head of the South's Committee for Implementation of the June 15 2000 South-North Joint Declaration, said that "the Mt. Geumgang tours are even more important in a time of crisis like this."
The Geumgangsan Love Movement began a "visit Mt. Geumgang" campaign in Gwanghwamun, downtown Seoul, on October 27. The group's 14 members began their own three-day trip to the mountain after holding a ceremony. A group of 200 visitors will travel to Mt. Geumgang in November.
About 50 people from literary circles, such as novelist Park Bum-shin and poet Do Jong-whan, decided to hold an inauguration of a South-North literary organization on Mt. Geumgang October 29-31. This will be the first organization to join writers from the two Koreas since the division of the Korean peninsula. Kim Hyeong-su, the literary organization's secretary-general, said that the fate of the peninsula and the nation cannot be left to politicians and diplomats alone, and that literary figures from the South and North should gather their wisdom together. About 200 journalists from the South and North will hold a forum regarding the carrying out of the June 15, 2000 Joint Declaration between the two Koreas. The forum will be sponsored by the Korean Journalists' Association. The Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation will push ahead with a visit by its leaders to Mt. Geumgang early next month. The civic group also appealed to people to join its campaign to maintain the inter-Korea tourism project. The Civil Headquarters for Activating South-North Economic Cooperation in Korea also launched a movement to take part in the Mt. Geumgang tourism in order to "make and keep peace." Professor Lee Jang-chun of Kyonggi University called tourism "a peaceful industry." Professor Lee said that the late Pope John Paul II said that tourism solves regional conflicts and aims for peace. "To stop the Mt. Geumgang tours, which are the axis of peace on the Korean peninsula, would be an affront to history,'' Professor Lee said. He added that it is necessary, however, to review the system of payment to the North for the program in order to prevent Pyongyang from using the money to develop weapons.
