The Unification Ministry said Thursday that cross-border visits between the two Koreas recorded a new high of more than 100,000 people last year.

According to the ministry, a total of 100,838 South Koreans made cross-border visits last year, up 15.7 percent from 2005. The figure excludes tourists who visited the North’s Mount Geumgang resort.

Among the more than 100,000 South Koreans who visited the North, nearly 88,000 went on business, including visits to the inter-Korean industrial complex in Gaesong. Others went for cultural exchange programs and separated family reunions.

In contrast, just 870 North Koreans visited the South last year, down 33.7 percent from 2005.

In the wake of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons test last October, the number of South Korean tourists to the Mount Geumgang resort dropped 21.4 percent year-on-year to 234,446 in 2006.

The ministry said that inter-Korean trade totaled more than $1.3 billion in 2006, up 27.8 percent from a year earlier. The South’s exports to the North reached more than $830 million last year, while shipments from the North to the South amounted to nearly $520 million.