[USFK Forums] New Offices Open for Traveler to N. Korea [Korea Times]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Thursday, March 16, 2006

New Offices Open for Travelers to N. Korea

The Korea Times, March 15, 2006
By Seo Dong-shin, Staff Reporter

[PHOTO: Unloadable] Dignitaries cut a tape during a ceremony to mark the opening of the Donghae Highway Transit Office, which will be used as a gateway for travelers to North Korea, in Kosong, Kangwon Province, Wednesday. /Yonhap

PAJU, Kyonggi Province ㅡ Two new immigration and quarantine offices opened Wednesday on the southern side of the inter-Korean border, paving the way for up to 4.3 million people to visit North Korea annually.

Minister of Unification Lee Jong-seok attended a ceremony to mark the opening of an office in Paju, north of Seoul, dubbed ``Gyeonggui Highway Transit Office.''

``The completion of the immigration facilities is the first step toward securing safe and smooth traffic between the South and North,'' Lee said in a speech at the ceremony. ``I think opening of inter-Korean railways and roads should follow as soon as possible.'' He said the government is aware of the inconvenience in crossing the border, and will make efforts to realize ``one-stop service'' for passage and customs.

Other dignitaries who were present at the ceremony included Sohn Hak-kyu, the governor of Kyonggi Province and who belongs to the largest opposition Grand National Party (GNP), Rep. Lee Jai-chang, a GNP lawmaker based in Paju, and Hyun Jeong-eun, chairwoman of the Hyundai Group which has spearheaded inter-Korean business projects.

The opening ceremony came about two months after visitors actually began to use the offices.

The new customs, immigration and quarantine (CIQ) office building, which leads up to the North Korean border town of Kaesong where a joint inter-Korean industrial complex is located, is aimed at enabling some 1.7 million people to cross the border annually, according to the ministry.

Located on a western road linking the two Koreas, the office, which first opened in 2003 in a temporary building, has witnessed increasing traffic between the two Koreas. In 2003, some 3,600 people and 1,200 vehicles passed through the border compared with about 66,000 people and 38,000 cars last year.

A ceremony attended by Shin Un-sang, vice minister of unification was also held to open the CIQ office in Kosong, Kangwon Province. The office is on an eastern road linking the two Koreas. It leads up to the scenic Mt. Kumgang in the North.

Some 335,000 people and 19,000 vehicles, mostly South Korean tourists to the Mt. Kumgang area, used the road last year, which first began operation in 2003. Up to 2.6 million people annually can now cross the border by using the Kosong office now.

``With the new offices, we have secured more space for waiting rooms and convenience facilities for users and more for doing customs and quarantine duties,'' a ministry official said.

The government spent some 42.5 billion won building the Paju office and 54.8 billion won on the Kosong office, according to ministry officials.


saltwall@koreatimes.co.kr

03-15-2006 17:28
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