SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea destroys a South Korean-owned golf course in a scenic mountain resort in the second confirmed case of South Korean assets eliminated in an area where the rivals once ran a joint tour program , officials said Tuesday in Seoul.
North Korea’s demolition of South Korean-built facilities at the Diamond Mountain resort comes at a time when ties between the countries remain tense over the recent series of high-profile missile tests in the north.
In response to questions from The Associated Press, the Seoul Ministry of Unification said it has confirmed that North Korea is demolishing the golf resort and a hotel in South Korea. Last Friday, the ministry said North Korea was in the process of dismantling the Haegumgang Hotel, a floating hotel docked in a coastal area in the resort.
The ministry said it is urging North Korea to stop destroying South Korean facilities. It demanded that North Korea return to talks to address the issue.
The two Koreas ran a tour project together at the resort for about 10 years during an earlier era of inter-Korean relaxation. The tours attracted an estimated 2 million South Korean visitors and were a rare source of foreign currency for the impoverished North. But South Korea halted the project in 2008 after one of its tourists there was fatally shot by a North Korean soldier.
After their relations improved in 2018, the two Koreas pushed to resume stalled cooperation projects, including the mountain treks. But Seoul ultimately failed to do so without defying US-led sanctions that prevented the tours from restarting. In 2019, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered officials to tear down South Korea’s properties at the resort, but the demolition was postponed amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus.
North Korea has asked the United States and South Korea to lift sanctions and other concessions in order to revive its ailing economy. Some experts say the recent weapons testing activity was intended to perfect its missile technology and increase its influence in future negotiations with its rivals.
In addition to the golf resort and the floating hotel, South Korea owns other lodging facilities in the resort, such as spas, a culture center, karaoke rooms, and a building used for reunions of Korean families separated by war. The fate of those facilities was unclear.
Northern state media reported Tuesday that a fire in the Diamond Mountain area over the weekend destroyed unspecified facilities and hundreds of acres of forests. He said the fire was extinguished on Sunday.
It was not immediately known whether the fire was related to the demolition of South Korean facilities at the resort. The South Korean Unification Ministry said it was trying to find out if the fire caused any damage to facilities at the resort.
