By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
North Korea has said it will seize South Korean property in the Mt. Geumgang resort area and scrap a tourism deal with the South, according to a statement from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) Thursday.
Pyongyang will seek a new partner to resume trips to the troubled tourism area and will expel South Korean representatives there, the KCNA reported.
North Korea said as its contracts with South Korean operators are no longer valid, it will allow new partners to take over to save the resort area that has been ``financially damaged’’ by the suspension of the tours.
In addition, the reclusive regime threatened to review the join Gaesong Industrial Complex if Seoul doesn’t make efforts to improve relations between the two Koreas.
The announcement came following an inspection of South Korean assets in the mountainous resort.
The communist country had threatened to seize assets there if Seoul did not agree to resume its long-suspended cross-border tours to the resort by the start of this month.
Pyongyang has already seized the South’s family reunion center and fire station at Geumgang and intimated it would additionally freeze all South Korean assets, including a duty free shop and a hot spring.
Seoul suspended the tours to the resort in 2008 after a North Korean soldier shot a South Korean tourist to death.
The South Korean government has demanded Pyongyang apologize for the incident and come up with measures for tourist security to prevent any recurrence.
Some 2 million South Koreans had visited the resort over the past decade before the suspension in 2008.
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