Hyundai chief visits North Korea
Tuesday, May 11, 2004 (Seoul):
The new chairwoman of South Korea's Hyundai Group left for North Korea today to meet officials involved in the group's business projects in the communist country.
Hyun Jung-eun, widow of former Hyundai chairman Chung Mong-hun, took over the group after her husband committed suicide last August amid allegations he tried to win political support for businesses in North Korea.
The new chairwoman has repeatedly vowed to continue projects in North Korea.
Hyun was to fly to Pyongyang via Beijing today, said Lee Mee-kyong, a spokeswoman for Hyundai Asan Co, a Hyundai affiliate in charge of the group's businesses in the North.
Hyundai began a tourism project in North Korea's east coast Diamond Mountain resort in 1998. The conglomerate lost heavily in the project, which failed to attract enough tourists amid criticism that it fattened the coffers of the communist regime in Pyongyang. (AP)