South Korea is considering allowing individual tours to North Korea as part of its efforts to improve relations with its neighbor. According to a spokesperson for South Korea’s Ministry of Unification, “The government is formulating and pursuing North Korea policies with the goal of easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula and improving inter-Korean ties with various measures under consideration in the process.
This development comes after President Lee Jae-myung’s election, where he pledged to improve strained ties with Pyongyang. Lee has taken steps to ease tensions, including suspending anti-North Korea loudspeaker broadcasts along the border and ordering a halt to leaflet campaigns criticizing North Korea’s leaders. The National Intelligence Service has also suspended decades-old broadcasts targeting the North Korean regime.
Koo Byung-sam, spokesperson for the Unification Ministry, stated that individual tours would not violate international sanctions. Tourism is one of the few cash sources for North Korea not targeted under United Nations sanctions imposed over its nuclear and weapons programs. North Korea recently opened a beach resort in Wonsan, a flagship project driven by leader Kim Jong Un to promote tourism, but it is temporarily not accepting foreign visitors.
Lee mentioned the proposal for individual tours during a National Security Council meeting on July 10, and the government has begun reviewing the plan. The potential for individual travel to North Korea has been explored before, with the Moon Jae-in administration proposing that South Koreans be allowed to travel to North Korea through a third country if they obtained a North Korean visa.
The South Korean government hopes that allowing individual tours will help reopen dialogue with Pyongyang. Lee will discuss further plans with top security officials to resume dialogue with North Korea, which technically is still at war with the South after the 1950-1953 Korean War ended with an armistice and not a peace treaty.