North Korea to halt tours to historic city

Millions visited Diamond Mountain
His firm struck an agreement to start tours to Diamond Mountain, a resort just north of the border that later grew to include a golf course, spa, hotels and a theater featuring North Korean acrobats.

Nearly 2 million tourists flocked to Diamond Mountain before the July shooting by a North Korean soldier brought the tours to a halt amid a stalemate over the investigation.

In December 2007, Hyundai Asan unveiled the Kaesong tour to see the famed Bakyeon waterfall, a Buddhist temple dating back to the 11th century, and a stone bridge where a bloody murder led to the fall of Koryo Dynasty in 1392.

The tour focuses on the heritage of a city with deep Buddhist roots and a royal history, as well as a sophisticated metropolis that produced brassware and porcelain and was famous for wine and ginseng.

Tourists were allowed no interaction with locals, apart from those working at tourist sites, and guides kept an eagle eye on any visitors who strayed from the group or tried to photograph the city center.

Downtown Kaesong — visible from the bus window — was abuzz Saturday with people of all ages on bicycles and on foot, many with packages tucked into baskets, and scarves around their necks to ward off an early chill. Children scampered along a tree-lined canal, some swinging their mothers' hands, others linked arm in arm with friends as they waved at sightseers.

A billboard in a central plaza depicted Kim Jong Il and his father, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung. Down the street, a massive statue of the elder Kim looked down on Kaesong from atop a hill, but the tour bus sped past.

No phones ringing
Pharmacies, salons, motels and shops were housed in concrete buildings with faded, peeling paint. Cables hung limply on telephone poles but there were no phones in sight, and unlike Seoul, where even some 5-year-olds have their own cell phones, there was never the sound of a phone ringing.

A fish market appeared closed and a noodle restaurant was boarded up. There was no running water in the toilets or sinks, even at tourist spots.

"Kaesong seems like it is a nice place to live, but the living situation seems like it's more difficult than when I was young," said Oh Tae-jin, 49, a South Korean on the tour with his family.

Snacks sold at tourist sites included a bag of crackers for $3 — U.S. dollars are the currency of choice in Kaesong — a North Korean cola for $2 and a box of tea for $10, roughly 10 times the average monthly wage in North Korea.

Lunch is included in the tour's 198,000-won cost — about $130 — with roughly half going to North Korea, according to Hyundai Asan. The 13-course feast in a traditional house in Kaesong's elegantly restored old town includes fish, beef, lamb and ginseng-infused whiskey for an extra $20 a bottle.

'We will win'
Back in downtown Kaesong, a lone warden stood in an intersection directing traffic: bicycles, modern buses and the rare car. A patriotic sign declared: "As long as the Dear Leader is alive, we will win!"

But as the tour buses rumbled past fields lying fallow and toward a gleaming new industrial park with its banks, convenience stores and imported traffic signals, it was clear the price Kaesong may pay for being caught in the political crossfire of deteriorating relations between Pyongyang and Seoul.

"If even the Kaesong tour stops now, it would be unfortunate," the tourist Oh said. "It would seem like the North-South relationship — which has been moving forward for 10 years — is moving backward."

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