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North Korean Army soldiers, background, look at the southern side as South Korean Army soldiers stand guard at the border village of Panmunjom in October 2010. AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon/PA Images
Koreas
North Korea seizing South's assets at Diamond Mountain resort
Seoul’s refusal to re-start tourist trips to the joint resort after a South Korean tourist was shot dead three years ago has angered Pyongyang.
PYONGYANG’S VOW to scrap all South Korean property at a joint mountain resort could end what was once a rare haven for curious southern tourists within North Korea.
For a decade, visitors from the South came in droves to Diamond Mountain, essentially a modern South Korean resort an hour’s drive into the North, where they could play golf, relax in hot springs and soak up the folklore of the beautiful mountain.
One of the few bright spots of cooperation between the divided countries, however, has been on hold since a North Korean soldier shot and killed a South Korean woman at the resort three years ago.
Tours suspended
North Korea is now threatening to end it completely by getting rid of South Korean assets and opening the resort to international investors. On Monday, Pyongyang ordered all South Korean workers at the resort to leave within 72 hours and banned any South Korean property from being removed.
The North is angered by Seoul’s refusal to resume the lucrative tours until Pyongyang formally apologises for the shooting death and allows a joint investigation.
Diplomats from the United States and the two Koreas are separately pursuing tentative talks meant to jump-start North Korean nuclear disarmament talks, but the meltdown at Diamond Mountain — once a promising symbol of potential inter-Korean cooperation — shows how deep animosity runs on the Korean peninsula.
The South immediately expressed regret today about the North’s comments on Diamond Mountain and planned to seek international mediation.
Nestled near a craggy mountain range that stretches to the sea, the resort drew hundreds of millions of dollars of South Korean investment until the shooting death halted cross-border tours in July 2008.
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Joint resort
Diamond Mountain tours started in 1998 under the initiative of a South Korean tycoon with roots in the North. Nearly 2 million South Koreans flocked to the resort, eager to see its beauty and be part of a spirit of reconciliation that blossomed during two liberal South Korean governments’ engagement with the North.
Often hailed as the peninsula’s most beautiful peak, Diamond Mountain has been praised by both ancient and modern Korean musicians, painters and historians. The North’s media often tout its beauty, describing the way white clouds drift over its saw-toothed peaks.
The land around Diamond Mountain, however, has seen tension since the 1950-53 Korean War. Thousands of troops died fighting to conquer hills south of the mountain during the war. Two years before the tours began, a group of armed North Korean infiltrators slipped south of the border aboard a submarine, rattling South Koreans until most of the agents were killed.
The start of the tours led to many of the troops guarding the border to fall back and allowed South Korean businesses to capitalise on a tourism asset they had long eyed.
The languishing resort appeared in fair condition last year when family members separated by the truce that ended the Korean War were briefly reunited under a Red Cross programme. A handful of workers were stationed there by South Korea’s Hyundai Asan company, the resort’s operator. Slogans were carved into hillside rocks, with propaganda billboards hailing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as “the sun of the 21st century.”
Increased tension
Ties between the Koreas frayed badly last year. The North bombarded a South Korean island last November, killing four people. It also denies responsibility for the sinking of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors in March 2010.
North Korea in June told the South to draw up plans to salvage its assets. Hyundai Asan estimates $370 million in sales have been lost since the tours were suspended. North Korea had annually won tens of millions of dollars from the tours, analysts believe.
Hope that tours could be revived followed a meeting of nuclear envoys from North and South Korea held in Indonesia last month. A later visit by a high-level North Korean diplomat to New York was another sign of possible thawing in the Korean peninsula’s icy ties.
But last month the two countries failed to agree on more talks about the resort.
“The Diamond Mount programme is holding on to its last breath,” Kang Sung-yoon, a North Korea professor at Seoul’s Dongguk University, said.
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Tracy I also do career coaching and I think you have offered some very useful tips for people in your article. I wish you well in your new venture which I’m sure will be a great success.
@Brian Waldron: i admire the energy and self belief to start a new venture and believe many can benefit from career coaching. Kids should taught a lot of this in school.
But the advice in this article is facile and uninteresting. Dress for an interview? Take three deep breaths?
At the end of it all there are a handful of pretty self evident interview tips (which I wouldn’t consider strictly speaking to be career advice) and three dull unhelpful tips on starting your own business.
This was a huge opportunity to get her brand and business in front of a readership. Opportunity wasted.
@Shazam37: unfortunately the school system in general is bereft of many key life skills, such as preparing for the work environment, communication skills, handling adversity, developing resilience and generally building character and confidence. Whilst parents can only do so much, there is a gap.
@Shazam37: How can people get paid for offering such bland and uninspiring advice?
Why would anyone pay for “career coaching” when one can read good interview tips straight off HR based websites for FREE?
@Joe: I didn’t ask the lady to do that. I am just surprised that people pay for something that one can get for free. You always seem to get bogged down in little irrelevant things Joe.
If you have a complete “C U next tuesday” for a boss there is no coaching that can fix that. People don’t leave bad jobs they leave bad bosses. Do yourself a favour don’t be miserable, move on.
@Shimo Tbay: I have a really sound boss in my job which I started 7 months ago. It’s the first time after 20 odd years working that I find myself in this case where I really respect the person that Is my manager. It’s life changing.
@JimmyMc: “we hope to give them options they didn’t realise they have”.
It’s about opening your mind and not getting stuck in a rut. Sometimes to move on and progress you need an independent voice to help you take that leap. If you can’t see that I would suggest it’s you who has reached their level.
The ones with the open minds and flexibility will move onwards and upwards leaving you in their dust trail.
Tracy,
I too have been a career coach for some 15 years. You offer some good tips. People often ask me why we need a ‘career coach’? If you liken it to a sports coach; a career coach looks at the years ahead and develops a strategy with their clients where they achieve their career targets and goals using a challenging and rewarding approach, similar to those of an athletic or team focusing on seasons or competitions ahead.
Best wishes for your career.
Greg Dalton
Great Article !I would love to add you on LinkedIn. Do not listen to the these professional moaners , they are kind of bubble wrapped snobs . Good luck with your business ,we need more coaches like yourself, and a psychologist for the non believers !
I think good career counselling is badly needed in secondary schools. Consider getting qualified for this. The pay is good and these jobs are very often filled by unsuitable people.
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