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Hyundai Asan could see its Mt.Baekdu tourism project in North Korea fizzle after Pyongyang cut the company¡¯s tourist quota for a similar project in the Kumgang Mountains already underway. The Mt.Baekdu project was scheduled to start trial runs this month.
"We were scheduled to conduct a prior survey for the Mt. Baekdu tourism project on Sept. 5-10, but because North Korea refuses to talk, we haven't even been able to set a schedule,¡± the South Korean company said Tuesday.
"The North slashed the number of tourists for the Kumgang Mountains project in half because of the dismissal of Hyundai Asan executive Kim Yoon-kyu, and there has been no progress in talks related to normalizing the Kumgang Mountains or Mt. Baekdu tourism projects,¡± a company official said. Another said Hyundai asked Pyongyang for talks on the cut in numbers but has not heard back. North Korea is miffed that Hyundai Asan ousted Kim, its point man in talks with Pyongyang for many years, over corruption charges.
Hyundai Asan wanted to start the pilot program at the end of the month and start full-scale tours to Mt. Baekdu within the year, but that looks now unlikely.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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