South Korea’s Ministry of Unification on Tuesday said it was reconsidering the timing of a $10 million aid package to North Korea via the World Food Programme (WFP), amid heightened tensions between the two Koreas.

The ministry said the unification minister and WFP executive director David Beasley held a videoconference last month and were planning to go ahead with an aid project for assisting nutrition needs for women and babies.

But, it said, it decided to delay the plan after Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s younger sister, made a statement the following day warning of severed ties with South Korea.

A ministry official said on the condition of anonymity: “We are reconsidering the timing to push ahead with the project, considering the various matters regarding inter-Korean relations.”

The previous day, Deputy Minister Suh Ho told lawmakers that the ministry was planning to donate $10 million to North Korea via WFP’s project.

The ministry said it has donated three times in the past, including $7 million in 2014, $2.1 million in 2015 and $4.5 million last year, putting the total at $13.6 million.

Last month, Kim Yo-jong lashed out and warned of a series of measures against Seoul for its failure to stop defectors from sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.

It included scrapping an inter-Korean military agreement, permanently suspending the joint-liaison office and Kaesong industrial park.

Following the statement, the North publicly demolished the inter-Korean liaison office, putting inter-Korean relations at its lowest point in recent years.

Meanwhile, in an effort to develop its nascent tourism industry and garner more revenue amid international sanctions, the North registered the trademark for “Masikryong Hotel” inside a luxury ski resort with a UN agency on intellectual property rights.

It listed the trademark on April 2 at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the website showed on Tuesday. The trademark is set to expire in 2030, but it could apply for extension afterwards.

The luxury hotel is built inside Masikryong Ski Resort, which was built in 2013 in the country’s eastern coastal town of Wonsan. It has 120 hotel rooms, a swimming pool, bars, cafe and western shops.

The ski resort is one of the North Korean leader’s pet projects, which is estimated to have cost $35 million to construct.

North Korean reports say it has 10 slopes of varying difficulties, an Austrian-made cable car system, snowmobiles and an ice skating rink. The Swiss-educated Kim is said to be an avid skier.

In early 2018, a group of South Korean skiers visited Masikryong ski resort for a joint training programme before the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Since the establishment, the communist nation has stepped up a publicity campaign for the ski resort, in a bid to lure foreign visitors. The North also stressed its boost to tourism is intended for the citizens to enjoy recreation and high-class activities.

Tourism is one of the few sectors excluded from the UN-led sanctions imposed on the country over its nuclear weapons programme. The earnings from foreign tourists visiting the country have become the main source of foreign currency for Pyongyang.

Most foreign tourists to North Korea are Chinese or are people who travel through China, the North’s closest ally. But this year, the coronavirus pandemic has forced the North to shut its borders with China, dealing a blow to the tourism industry.

North Korea opened a high-scale spa resort called Yangdok Hot Spring Cultural Recreation Centre late last year, but it temporarily shut down the resort in February as part of efforts to prevent Covid-19 spread.

The North has been pushing to register trademarks with the WIPO since Kim took helm of the country in 2011.

On May 6, it registered the Ryugyong Musical Instrument Company with the WIPO. Last year, it completed filing for 11 brands, including Taedonggang Brewing Company, and the Pyongyang Trolley Bus Factory.

THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK