DPRK side has agreed to allow ROK college students to cross border into N.Korea
S.Korea's Dong-A Pharmaceutical and civic group led by Kim Dae-jung's son to push forward project
Dagyum Ji
February 22nd, 2019
North and South Korean civil organizations “have agreed” to hold an event which allows a group of South Korean university students to cross the inter-Korean border and travel to North Korea.
Speaking at a news conference held on Friday in Seoul, Kim Hong-gul — who serves as Chairman of the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation (KCRC) — shared the plan to be carried out this summer.
Seoul-based KCRC has held several inter-Korean events with their North Korean counterpart Consultative Council for National Reconciliation (CCNR), including one held at Mount Kumgang on February 12 and 13 where more than 200 South Koreans attended and reporters were barred from bringing equipment.
When asked by NK News about plans for other inter-Korean events for this year, Kim said his organization has prepared to extend the course of a cross-country walking program — in which South Korean university students usually participate — to the North Korean territories.
Since 1998, South Korea’s Dong-A Pharmaceutical has been operating the program, dubbed the “Long March through the National Land,” for university students. Typically around 150 university students walk approximately 600km over three weeks.
Kim Hong-gul, the youngest son of the late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, said participants would cross the inter-Korean border into the DPRK and meet North Korean university students as part of the program.
“We have agreed to hold the event,” Kim answered when asked by NK News about progress in consultations with the North. “But we have to discuss the exact timing and course in North Korea and make a decision over the issues.”
Policy Director at KCRC Lee Si-jong said in an extended discussion with NK News following the news conference that Pyongyang was not opposed to the proposal on the visit to the DPRK by South Korean university students, adding that participants are likely to cross the inter-Korean border to Mount Kumgang.
Lee also said that Pyongyang did not express any concerns about large-scale exchanges between North and South Korean university students.
In a statement provided by the South’s KCRC, the organization said it delivered various project proposals on social and cultural exchanges to the North Korean side during an event last November, including the Dong-A Pharmaceutical’s plan on the cross-country walk.
The North’s CCNR and the South’s KCRC held a joint event at Mount Kumgang on November 3 and 4 for the implementation of the Panmunjom Declaration and the September Pyongyang Joint Declaration, attended by around 300 South Koreans.
South Korean President of Dong-A Pharmaceutical Choi Ho-jin participated in both the November and February joint events, according to the KCRC.
The youngest son of the late President Kim Dae-jung said his organization and North Korean counterparts “have agreed” to bring South Korean university students to North Korean territory | Photo: NK News
January saw the South Korean pharmaceutical company announce its business agreement with the ROK KCRC, citing a “positive outcome” from the November discussions on the cross-country walk.
The two organizations agreed, it said, to cooperate on issues including communication with the DPRK side in a comprehensive manner to hold the event, “Long March through the National Land,” for both North and South Korean university students.
Dong-A Pharmaceutical in January said it would hold discussions with the CCNR over the schedule, size, and course, among other items, during the civilian inter-Korean event earlier this month.
JOINT REMAINS CEREMONY
During Friday’s news conference, Kim also said it was unclear if North Korean officials from the CCNR would be able to participate in a future joint event for the repatriation of remains of Koreans in Japan forcibly mobilized by the Japanese government during World War II.
North and South Korean civilian organizations established a joint committee to recover the remains of Koreans and to investigate and reveal the truth of forced mobilization respectively in July and November 2018.
Since then, the ROK KCRC has implemented the project of returning such remains with their DPRK counterpart, mainly through the General Association of Korean Residents (Chongryon).
As a result, 74 remains of South Koreans will be repatriated on February 28, and a memorial ceremony will be held on March 1 in Seoul. The remains will be interred in a temple on Jeju Island the following day with a ceremony.
During the two-day inter-Korean event in February, the DPRK CCNR said it would dispatch around 10 officials to the South for the repatriation ceremonies as well as an inter-Korean event marking the 100th anniversary of the March First Independence Movement Day, which was agreed in the Pyongyang Joint Declaration.
Pyongyang on Thursday, however, notified Seoul that it would be difficult to hold the event of the 100th anniversary at the government-level, citing the lack of time, in a statement sent under the name of the chairman of the DPRK’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country (CPRC) Ri Son Gwon.
Kim Hong-gul on Friday said the DPRK side has not yet scrapped the plan to attend the repatriation ceremony.
His North Korean counterpart, however, suggested it would be difficult to make an independent trip to Seoul considering that the government-level inter-Korean event has been called off.
Edited by Colin Zwirko
Featured Image: South Korean government
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