KOREA. Differences between North and South Korea were set aside yesterday amid celebrations of the grand opening of Geumgangsan Duty Free Shop.
The 843sq m store is located on the Geumgangsan Mountains* in North Korea, said to be the most beautiful mountain area on the whole Korean peninsula.
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The grand opening saw long-nurtured aims to build an ambitious duty free facility on the Geumgangsan Mountains realised | |
In November 1998 the North Korean regime first allowed visitors from long-separated South Korea to visit the mountains. There a small shop and restaurant was set up and run by South Korean company Hyundai Asan in the West Onjeonggak area.
But state-run South Korean body Korea Tourism Organization (also known as Korea National Tourism Organization/KNTO) had long nurtured ambitions to build a more ambitious duty free facility there. Finally it gained approval from Hyundai Asan to build a duty free store in the newly built East Onjeonggak area. Yesterday the grand ambition came to fruition.
The store sells a wide range of duty free items, including liquor, tobacco and cosmetics, a KNTO spokesman told The Moodie Report. It also offers North Korean products such as liquor, dried fruits and herbs (due to quarantine regulations only dried foods are allowed for travellers returning to the South). The allowance is US$300 for South Koreans.
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(Left-right) Prominent South Korean agent Won K Kim of Brandepot was on hand at the opening to check his best-selling Inniskillin was in stock; The new store offers a diverse spirits and wine range | |
Some 350,000 South Korean tourists are expected to cross the border at the Demilitarised Zone this year, where North Korean soldiers escort the tour buses.
ABOUT THE GEUMGANSAN MOUNTAINS
The Geumgangsan Mountains are often described as “12,000 pinnacles with 12,000 miracles”. The eminent Chinese poet Su Dong-po of the Song Dynasty (960-1277) once said: “If I were to die the day after seeing Goryeo (Korea) Geumgansan, I would have no regrets.” The beauty of the mountains has also been celebrated in many Korean poems and paintings.
The Geumgangsan Mountains tower above North Korea ‘s side of the Demilitarised Zone, the symbol of the country’s tragic ideological demarcation. Including the tallest peak, Birobong (1,638m), they stretch 40m east and west and 60km south and north, covering 530sq km.
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South Korean overseas travel booms in run-up to big Incheon duty free and F&B tenders – 28/05/07
