Yonhap:
9/23/2006
Fees paid by South Koreans for a visit to a scenic North Korean mountain resort has risen sharply in the past two years, a government report showed Saturday.
The Unification Ministry report to the National Assembly revealed that the admission fees for Mount Geumgang have risen twice since mid-2005, with the fee for a one-day trip jumping around 200 percent.
In 2004, North Korea demanded different admission fees from South Korean tourists depending on the length of their stay in the resort, the report said. Pyongyang has since raised the fees once in May 2005 and again in July of this year, it said.
For example, a tourist taking a one-day tour now should pay US$30, three times more than in 2004, the report said. The revised fees range from US$48 for one night and two days to US$80 for two nights and three days, it said.
The tour to the North Korean resort has been organized by South Korea’s Hyundai-Asan Corp. since 1998. More than 1 million South Koreans have so far visited the resort.
