N.Korea says it will remove Mt Kumgang resort facilities if South insists on talks (updated)

Ananti

15/11/2019 02:30

(Updates with official KCNA quote, South Korean reaction,
paragraphs 4-6; adds TV to media slug)
    By Joyce Lee
    SEOUL, Nov 15 (Reuters) - North Korea said on Friday it had
sent South Korea an "ultimatum" about its Mt Kumgang tourist
resort, saying it will unilaterally remove South Korea's
facilities there if Seoul insists on talks about the issue. 
    South Korea had proposed talks with North Korea on how to
handle its facilities in the resort, once a rare example of
cooperation between the Koreas, after North Korean leader Kim
Jong Un said last month he wanted them removed amid cooled
inter-Korean relations.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N27D010
    North Korea had said they wanted to discuss the removal "by
writing", not by talks, but South Korea, while proposing talks,
said they would seek a "creative solution" and make the
protection of South Korean assets a priority. 
    "On November 11 we sent an ultimatum, warning that if the
South Korean authorities persist in their useless assertion, we
will take it as an abandonment of the withdrawal, and take
resolute measure for unilaterally pulling down the facilities,"
the North's official KCNA news agency said. 
    South Korea's Unification Ministry deputy spokesman Kim
Eun-han said Seoul would respond calmly to the issue "in line
with its consistent position that the two Koreas should deal
with it through mutual agreement". 
    He did not elaborate on what South Korea might do if North
Korea removed the Mt Kumgang facilities. 
    Mt Kumgang is on North Korea's east coast, just beyond the
demilitarised zone separating the two countries. It was one of
two major inter-Korean economic projects, along with the Kaesong
industrial zone, and an important token of rapprochement during
decades of hostilities following the 1950-53 Korean War.
    Kim Jong Un called the South Korean-built facilities, now
more than a decade old, "shabby" and "capitalist" and ordered a
modern redevelopment of the tourist spot, KCNA reported in
October. 
    There have been no South Korean tours to Mt Kumgang since
2008, when a South Korean tourist was shot by a North Korean
soldier, although there have been infrequent events such as the
reunions of families from both sides separated by the war.
    KCNA said on Friday Kim Jong Un inspected the construction
site of Yangdok Hot Springs tourist resort again, one of his pet
projects as he focuses on building up tourism as a revenue
resource not blocked by international sanctions. 
    A photograph in the state newspaper Rodong Sinmun showed him
posing with his shirt collar open in front of facilities that
included pools of water, a pagoda and other buildings.
    It was his fourth publicised visit to Yangdok this year. Kim
Jong Un said in late October it was "refreshing and reviving" to
visit the resort, which is nearing completion, and that it was
"a striking contrast to the Mt Kumgang tourist area".

 (Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Sandra Maler and Paul Tait)
 ((jungyoon.lee@tr.com; +82 2 6936 1467;))