North Korea has agreed to expand its fledgling tourism operations in the communist state, funded by South Korea's Hyundai Group, by opening more cites to outsiders from next month, Hyundai said on Sunday.
The agreement was reached following Saturday's meeting in North Korea between the North's leader Kim Jong-il and Hyundai Group executives including the group's chairwoman, Hyun Jeong-Eun, Hyundai said in a statement.
Under the agreement, Hyundai would open new tour routes to Mount Paektu, which straddles the North's border with China, and to Kaesong City, just north of the heavily militarised border between the two Koreas.
Tours to Kaesong, where a joint industrial complex for South Korean firms is located, were set to start before August 15, and the programme at Mount Paektu would be launched "as soon as possible", Hyundai said.
The two sides will also work to develop more tour programmes at Mount Kumgang, where Hyundai already runs a resort and land tours, and other scenic sites in the North.
Hyundai Group's inter-Korean business arm, Hyundai Asan, began cruises to Mount Kumgang on the peninsula's east cost in 1998 and followed that up with land tours.
Hyundai has so far brought over one million mostly South Korean tourists to the Kumgang region, but has yet to turn a profit for its over $1 billion investment.
Hyundai is also developing the 18-hole golf course to promote tourism in the Kumgang area, which will add to hotels, a casino, hot springs and a beach resort being developed.
The tourism zone is still highly controlled with only the limited number of North Koreans have access to tourists. Roads taken by the tours are generally fenced off from villages.
The development comes ahead of the planned six-nation talks to end North Korea's nuclear arms programme. The talks with Pyongyang are due to resume in the week of July 25 after a break of over a year.
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