North Korea responds to reports of Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-Eun's entry request into the country.
North Korea's foreign ministry says the country has no intention to "examine" the Hyundai Group chief's bid to visit the North.
North Korea Responds to Hyundai Chief's Visit Requests
TOPSHOT - People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at a railway station in Seoul on April 13, 2023. - North Korea fired a ballistic missile on April 13, Seoul's military said, prompting Japan to briefly issue a seek shelter warning to residents of the northern Hokkaido region.
As per a report by Reuters, the North has finally responded to the reports spreading in the South that Hyundai Chair Jeong-eun has been requesting to visit North Korea this August. She has reportedly sent her applications to the unification Ministry of the South.
The North says in its statement that it has no idea about any South Korean person's bid to visit the country. It notes that it has "neither been informed about any [South] Korean personage's willingness for visit nor known about it."
On top of that, North Korea stresses that if the Hyundai Chief requested to enter the country, they have "no intention to examine."
The North explains that the "unchangeable" rules prevent any South Korean from entering the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK. It states, "It is the policy of the DPRK government that entry by any personage of South Korea into its territory cannot be allowed." Furthermore, the government reiterated that they plan to continue the practice.
Meanwhile, The Star Malaysia reports that there have been some changes in the unification ministry's leadership. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol appointed a staunch critic of North Korea's human rights records as the new unification minister responsible for handling diplomatic relations with the North.
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Hyundai Chief's Bid to Visit Mount Kumgang
In this photo taken on June 25, 2023, a banner that reads "Tens of millions of people pledge to defy death for defending country!" is seen as residents of Pyongyang attend a mass rally to mark the "day of struggle against US imperialism", on the 73rd anniversary of the three-year Korean War, which began on June 25, 1950, at the Mayday Stadium in Pyongyang.
As The Korea Times reports, an unnamed South Korean unification ministry official disclosed on Friday that Hyundai Group's Chair has been seeking to drop by North Korea's Mount Kumgang.
Jeong-eun reportedly plans to visit the North this August. She previously held her late husband, former chairman Chung Mong-hun's memorial service in the North Korean mountain in 2018. She also hosted various sightseeing programs at Mount Kumgang.
It is noteworthy that Hyundai's late founder Chung Ju-Yun's birthplace is North Korea. And August 4 marks the 20th death anniversary of the late former chairman, Mong-hun.
The unnamed official disclosed that the Korea Times says that Hyundai Group officials have already submitted the necessary documents for its chairwoman's visit to the unification ministry. Meanwhile, the ministry is reportedly looking into the documents the Korean conglomerate sent.
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