The Unification Ministry on Sunday approved Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun’s trip to North Korea later this week for the anniversary of a suspended mountain tour program.

The ministry said it has given the green light to Hyun and her delegation of 22 Hyundai officials to attend Tuesday’s ceremony to celebrate the 16th anniversary of the start of the tour program to Mount Geumgang.

The ministry said Hyundai officials have no plan to have separate meetings with North Korean officials, aside from attending the anniversary ceremony.

Hyun will be attending her first such commemoration since the 11th anniversary in 2009.

Once a major cash cow for the impoverished North Korea, tours to Mount Geumgang were suspended in 2008 after a South Korean tourist was fatally shot by a North Korean soldier after straying into an off-limits military zone next to the resort.

Tours to Mount Geumgang, long famous for its scenic beauty on North Korea’s southeast coast, began in 1998 on an agreement between the deceased Hyundai Group founder, Chung Ju-yung, and the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. (Yonhap)