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Hyundai Asan, the operator of package tours to North Korea, has asked the government to normalize inter-Korean relations and to give urgent financial support to businesses operating in the North.
Hyundai Asan on Wednesday said it submitted a petition to the Unification Ministry the previous day "urging the government to take a bold, epoch-making measure for the swift normalization of inter-Korean relations." The petition was signed by all Hyundai Asan staff.
"After suspension of tours to Mt. Kumgang and Kaesong in North Korea, Hyundai Asan is expected to suffer a loss of W86.5 billion and its subcontractors W21 billion by the end of this year," the company wrote (US$1=W1,478). "Hyundai Asan, 80 to 90 percent of whose sales occur in the North, is now in danger of losing most of its sales source, and smaller subcontractors are also suffering."
Hyundai Asan is asking the government for loans to the businesses from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to help them survive and prepare to resume business.
It also urged the government to "express a more forward-looking view on the June 15, 2000 Joint Declaration and the Oct. 4, 2007 Summit Declaration signed by the two Koreas to relieve the anxiety of businesses that have invested in inter-Korean economic cooperation projects based on their trust in the government."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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