Hyundai Asan has yet to profit from the venture. But what the company has done, Byun said, is open the gate for reconciliation on the Korean peninsula. When relations sour, the company remains a channel of communication.

"This trust will strongly affect the Korean reunification," he said.

That trust, however, is a fickle thing. A railway connecting the two countries remains idle. Hyundai Asan's new station on the South Korean side is ghostly quiet. Byun said the North Korean government inexplicably pulled the plug just before the first train was set to roll. But just last month, the North allowed a one-time symbolic running of the train, marking the first time the tracks were used since the Korean War.

"We have arguments with North Korea, but we are still friends," he said.

So far, about 1.5 million people have visited the resort at Mount Kumgang since it opened in 1998. All but about 10,000 were South Koreans. The others represent 48 countries but have been largely Korean-Americans.

South Korean tourist Im Yong Sik from the industrial city of Ulsan recalled singing songs about Mount Kumgang as a schoolboy and has long wanted to visit. He said the venture is good for the peninsula, and he hopes reunification will soon be a reality.

Reunification facilitated by the Red Cross has occurred on a much smaller scale at the resort. Mount Kumgang has become ground zero for reuniting families separated during the Korean War. Special accommodations for them are set to open next year.

Though it employs hundreds of North Koreans, the resort does not cater to their countrymen. They have their own way to the mountain.

Our half-day hike on a drizzly morning took us to Kuryong (Nine Dragons) Falls, a 244-foot-long column of water flowing down a smooth rock wall. According to legend, nine dragons gathered here to defend Mount Kumgang.

Young women in red mountain gear and rain ponchos posted at tables along the trail sell fruit drinks, Asian pears, nuts and candy. Young men in blue jackets walk the path as members of a mountain rescue team. All sport pins showing revered former dictator Kim Il Sung, not because they have to, they say, but because they want to.

Talking with a North Korean is a rare opportunity and part of the Kumgang experience. Hand-picked for their jobs, they greet visitors with polite smiles and have likely been briefed on how to respond to sensitive political topics.

Though they are described as generally naive, emotional and ignorant of foreign affairs, that isn't necessarily true. They had little trouble (through an interpreter) discussing world events like the six-nation nuclear talks or the Iraq war.