SEOUL — North Korea Tuesday began expelling staff and sealing South Koreanowned buildings at a mountain resort in protest at Seoul's refusal to restart lucrative cross-border tours, officials said.
The action came five days after the cash-strapped communist state -- impatient to restart a business which once earned it tens of millions of dollars a year --
announced it had scrapped its tourism deal with the South.
Seoul's unification ministry said Tuesday's unilateral actions at scenic Mount
Kumgang were seriously hurting relations.
Tensions are already high following the unexplained sinking of a South Korean
warship near the disputed border on March 26, although the South has not so far
accused the North of involvement.
The North pasted "keep-out" stickers across the keyholes of five Seoul-owned
buildings and told four Korean-Chinese custodians working there to leave within 24 hours, ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-Joo told AFP.
The move was seen as an attempt by the sanctions-hit state to put further pressure on the Seoul government to restart the tours.
South Korea suspended the programme in July 2008 after North Korean soldiers
shot dead a Seoul housewife who strayed into a military zone.
"As expected, North Korea is taking action step by step despite our warnings that
such unilateral measures were seriously hurting relations. We urge North Korea to immediately retract its decision," Lee said.
The South will "strongly" deal with the move, she said, without elaborating
A family reunion centre, a fire station, a cultural centre, a spa and a duty-free shop were sealed off, she said, adding the workers are expected to cross the tightly guarded border early Wednesday.
Tuesday's moves had little practical impact since visits have already halted. But
they suggested possible stronger steps in future, such as confiscation of Seoul's
assets.
Announcing the measures last Thursday, the North termed them "the first phase". South Korea demands firm agreements on the safety of visitors, a joint
investigation into the housewife's shooting and the North's apology for the killing. Pyongyang says it has already given adequate assurances.
South Korean firm Hyundai Asan -- part of the giant Hyundai group, whose founder Chung Ju-Yung was a passionate supporter of reunification -- developed the east coast resort as a symbol of reconciliation.
Nearly two million South Koreans travelled there between 1998-2008, with the
business earning the North some 487 million dollars.
The North has also threatened to review the other major cross-border project run
by Hyundai -- an industrial park at Kaesong, just north of the border, where 42,000 North Koreans work at 110 South Korean-funded plants.
On Saturday its military warned it may restrict border crossings, in protest at
propaganda leaflets launched from the South, a move which could eventually
cripple Kaesong's operations.
Activists use giant balloons to carry tens of thousands of leaflets and sometimes
DVDs, criticising the alleged lavish lifestyle and womanising of leader Kim Jong-Il, as well as accounts of his reported ill health.
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