A group of South Koreans crossed the heavily fortified land border into North Korea Friday to hold a memorial service there for the late chairman of Hyundai Group, the North’s partner in a now-suspended tour program to Mount Geumgang.

Fourteen officials of the conglomerate’s North Korean business arm Hyundai Asan, led by president Chang Kyung-chak, entered the North after crossing the border through a transit office near the east coast at 9:30 a.m.

The officials are scheduled to hold a brief memorial service for late chairman Chung Mong-hun at the Geumgang mountain resort and to inspect the firm’s resort facilities there before returning home around 4 p.m., according to company officials.

Hyundai chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun, the widow of the late chairman, did not join the trip.

Chung, who aggressively sought joint tourism and other business projects with North Korea, committed suicide in 2003 amid an investigation into suspicions the government of then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung secretly transferred a large amount of money to North Korea ahead of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000.

Chung’s ashes were scattered at the resort in accordance with his wishes. (Yonhap News)