SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- The chief of Hyundai Group was expected to visit Pyongyang on Monday to discuss the release of an employee who has been detained by North Korea since March, sources said. Speculation has been growing that North Korea may free the worker, only identified by his surname Yu, within the week, in line with its recent pardoning of two American journalists granted during former U.S. President Bill Clinton's visit, opening a diplomatic channel between the two countries. Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun "recently proposed her Pyongyang visit to discuss the matter of Mr. Yu and received North Korean approval," one of the informed sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. Hyun will travel by land over the demilitarized zone, the sources said.
The South Korean worker with Hyundai Asan Corp., the North Korea business arm of Hyundai Group, was detained on March 30 at a joint industrial park in the North's border town of Kaesong where he had been working for years. In a May 1 statement, North Korea said an investigation was underway, saying Yu "malignantly slandered the dignified system in the DPRK (North Korea) ... perpetrating grave acts of infringement upon the sovereignty of the DPRK and in violation of the relevant law." Seoul officials said they also heard from North Korea that Yu was accused of trying to persuade a local woman to defect to the South. In contrast to the American journalists who were allowed phone calls to family and consular contact, North Korea has not granted any outside access to Yu during his detention.
The informed sources said it was yet to be decided whether the visiting Hyundai chief will be granted an audience with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as she was during her Pyongyang visit in 2007. Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung, reached by phone early in the morning, said the ministry has yet to officially decide whether to approve Hyun's visit, adding the decision will be made within hours. "It will be put to review this morning, and we will let you know in a briefing session" scheduled for 10:30 a.m., he said. Also on Monday, Cho Kun-shik, the chief of Hyundai Asan and Yu's direct boss, was scheduled to travel to the Kaesong industrial park, company officials said.
Hyundai is the major developer of the Kaesong park, which was opened in late 2004 marrying South Korean technology and capital with North Korean labor. More than 100 South Korean firms operate there with about 40,000 North Korean workers, producing clothing, kitchenware, electronic equipment and other labor-intensive goods. Yu's detention has chilled business sentiment there.
s0urces: hkim@yna.co.kr(END)
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