North Korea announces termination of economic cooperation with South

• Key inter-Korean economic projects have been suspended for years due to these issues.
• The Mount Kumgang resort was once one of the two biggest inter-Korean projects.
• Restarting the tourism business could violate international sanctions imposed on Pyongyang.

State media reported on Thursday that North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament has voted to abolish laws regarding economic cooperation with the South, as relations between the two neighbors reach new lows.

The two Koreas have seen their ties frozen as Pyongyang intensifies its weapons development programs and Seoul increases military cooperation with Washington and Tokyo, resulting in the suspension of key inter-Korean economic projects for years.

At a plenary meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly on Wednesday, officials voted unanimously to eliminate the law on inter-Korean economic cooperation, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

This decision follows Pyongyang's declaration last month of Seoul as its main enemy, the dissolution of agencies dedicated to reunification, and threats to occupy the South during war.

Additionally, the parliament unanimously approved a plan to abolish a special law governing the operation of the Mount Kumgang tourism project, once a significant symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.

Hyundai Asan, a South Korean company, built the resort on one of North Korea's most scenic mountains, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors from the South. However, in 2008, tours abruptly ceased after a North Korean soldier shot dead a South Korean tourist who had strayed off an approved path, leading Seoul to suspend travel.

The Mount Kumgang resort, along with the now-shuttered Kaesong Industrial Complex, where Southern companies employed North Korean workers and paid Pyongyang for their services, was once one of the two biggest inter-Korean projects.

In response to a nuclear test and missile launches by North Korea, Seoul pulled out of the venture — launched in the wake of a 2000 inter-Korean summit — in 2016, stating that profits from Kaesong were funding the provocations.

After years of COVID-19-linked border closures, restarting its lucrative tourism business would offer North Korea a means of generating hard cash, but it could now violate international sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic weapons programs.

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