North Korea has, in effect, rejected working level talks with South Korea on the inter-Korean tourism program at Mt. Geumgang.
To South Korea’s proposal on Monday to hold talks on the tours, the North said it will only agree to hold talks if South Korean officials bring related business representatives with them and that they only discuss the issue of clearing out South Korean assets from the resort.
A South Korean official told reporters that this makes it difficult for the two sides to hold talks as the South cannot accept the North’s unilateral decision to scrap the joint venture.
Pyeongyang has ended a South Korean company’s exclusive rights to the program and threatened to clear out South Korean assets at the resort after Seoul halted the programs there following the shooting death of a South Korean tourist at the resort by a North Korean soldier in 2008.
