The government has postponed or canceled visits by civil employees to regions near the North Korea-China border out of fears that Pyongyang could engage in terror acts or abductions of South Koreans.
 
The Institute for Unification Education said that it decided to push back to the second half of the year a trip by some 60 directors and department heads of government agencies and senior officials of public firms to a region near the North Korea-China border. The trip was originally set for the end of this month.
 
The institute said it postponed the trip after taking into consideration calls by the Foreign Ministry to refrain from traveling to border regions.
 
The National Unification Advisory Council on Wednesday sent a letter to regional councils and urged them to refrain from pushing forward with visits or conducting training programs in the areas.
 
Last Monday, the Foreign Ministry held a meeting with key travel agencies and called for the agencies’ active cooperation amid the growing possibility of North Korea engaging in terror acts or abductions targeting South Koreans abroad.