Hyundai Asan is pushing to send its officials to North Korea’s scenic mountain resort this week for a memorial service of a former Hyundai Group chairman, officials said.

The main tour operator at the stalled resort has held a memorial service for Chung Mong-hun every year since 2003, when he committed suicide in Seoul. A monument in memory of Chung was set up at Mount Kumgang.

A delegation of 11 Hyundai Asan officials has asked the government to allow them to visit the resort on Thursday for the memorial service, a Hyundai Asan official said.

The government indicated that it could approve their request, though no final decision has been made yet.

Under the current law, South Koreans are required to get the government’s endorsement before traveling to North Korea or giving aid to the North.

The proposed trip comes amid a standoff between South and North Korea over South Korean assets at the mountain resort.

North Korea has said that it will dispose of the assets in roughly three weeks unless South Korean investors either join the North’s new international tour program or lease, transfer or sell their assets during the period.

South Korea has warned that the North will be held accountable for all consequences resulting from its disposal of the assets, estimated to be worth about 300 billion won ($284 million).

Chung Ju-yung, Chung Mong-hun’s late father and founder of Hyundai Group, pioneered the tourism program at the North’s resort in 1998.

Seoul halted the tour program in 2008 following the shooting death of a South Korean female tourist at the resort, stripping the North of a key source of much-needed hard currency. 

(Yonhap News)