South Korea proposes to meet North Korea on shuttered tourist project

South Korea suggested a meeting with North Korea on Sunday in relation to a long-shuttered joint tourist project at a scenic North Korean mountain as relations between both the countries have been cool over a case of nuclear diplomacy. On Monday, South Korea sent a proposal seeking a meeting between officials of both the countries to talk about the project alongside North Korea's push to demolish South Korean facilities at the Diamond Mountain resort with a justification that they were shabby and not pleasant to look at. South Korean representative Lee Sang-min, however, said that his country had not given a set date and a location for the concerned meeting.

'A necessary meeting'

Lee added that South Korea thought it was necessary to have a meeting with North Korea to discuss the pressing matter and further added that a Unilateral action by North Korea could cause damage to the diplomatic relations between both the countries and hurt public sentiments in South Korea.

The Diamond mountain resort project

Tours by South Korea to the Diamond mountain started in the year 1998, providing a source of foreign currency to the North. The mountain was also one of the very few places that the South had access to. The tourist project was stopped in the year 2008 after a North Korean soldier shot a South Korean tourist, who according to the officials had entered into a restricted area.

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Although, North Korea is seeking to restart the project since it entered a stage of nuclear diplomacy with Seoul in 2018 but the South cannot restart the tourist project while international sanctions are still prevalent in relation to North Korea's nuclear program.

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According to some experts, Pyongyang's threat to demolish the facilities built by South Korea such as hotels, spas and restaurants might be the North's way of venting out their frustration at the sanctions imposed on them and an attempt to make Seoul resume the tours.

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(With inputs from AP)