N. Korea vows to legally dispose of S. Korean assets at Mount Kumgang

(ATTN: CLARIFIES para 7; ADDS Unification Ministry's response in paras 9-10) SEOUL, Aug. 22 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Monday it will legally dispose of all South Korean property at its scenic mountain resort, blaming Seoul for not responding to its proposals on how to handle the assets. Pyongyang has threatened to dispose of the roughly 300 billion won (US$284 million) worth of assets unless South Korean business representatives visit the resort on Mount Kumgang to discuss ways to handle their property. Tour programs to the resort were suspended in 2008 following the shooting death of a South Korean female tourist there. North Korea "considers that the South Korean authorities totally abandoned the protection of property and interests of enterprises of the south side and from now on makes a real legal disposal of all the properties including real estate, equipment and vehicles of the south side" at the resort, an unidentified spokesman for the resort's guidance bureau said, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). North Korea informed the South late last month that it would give business representatives three weeks to visit and choose between joining an international tour program for the resort and disposing of the assets through a lease, transfer or sale. Earlier this year, the North announced a law designed to develop the resort as a special zone for international tours after unilaterally terminating exclusive tourism rights for Hyundai Asan, a key South Korean tour operator at the resort. Four officials from Hyundai Asan visited the resort on Friday, the deadline set by the North, to try to resolve the dispute, but the spokesman said the meeting only proved that the South "has no intention to resume tours of Mount Kumgang and respond to the adjustment of properties but is keen to realize its sinister intention to use noble tourism for the purpose of confrontation." A delegation of South Korean government officials and business representatives have also held two rounds of talks with the North since late June, but little resulted from them. The South has warned that the North will be held accountable for all consequences resulting from its disposal of the assets. "The North's unilateral action is regrettable," said Chun Hae-sung, spokesman for the South's Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs. "The government will respond appropriately through legal, diplomatic and other means," he told Yonhap News Agency by phone. He added that the government will hold talks with Hyundai Asan and other relevant firms to ensure the safety of the 14 South Korean staff working at the resort as of Monday morning. The North Korean spokesman also said all South Korean materials and property were prohibited from being taken out of the resort starting Sunday at midnight, according to the KCNA dispatch. He also ordered all South Korean personnel at the resort to leave within 72 hours. "The puppet conservative group is entirely to blame for the situation today when the tour of Mount Kumgang has reached such a deplorable pass, though it had been under way amid the attention of all Koreans and the whole world and its crimes will be denounced and cursed by them for all ages," the spokesman said, referring to the South Korean government. South Korea had invested tens of millions of dollars building hotels, restaurants and a golf course at the resort since 1998 when the North opened it for South Korean tourists. The cross-border project, a cash cow for the impoverished North, was once hailed as a key symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation after decades of enmity.