S. Korean companies vow to boycott tours to N. Korea's mountain resort

SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Yonhap) -- The association of about 30 South Korean small companies that invested in a North Korean mountain resort vowed Monday to boycott North Korea's new tour program to the resort.
The move came days after North Korea invited a group of foreign business executives, tourists and journalists to Mount Kumgang to launch an international tour program for the scenic resort under its new law.
The isolated communist country is seeking to attract foreign tourists to the resort in an apparent attempt to earn much-needed hard currency. But Seoul has said it will ask the United States, China and Japan to keep their nationals from visiting the resort.
South Korea had invested tens of millions of dollars building hotels, restaurants, a golf course and other facilities at the resort since 1998 when the North opened it for South Korean tourists.
The cross-border program, once seen as a key symbol of reconciliation on the divided Korean Peninsula, has become a bone of contention since 2008 when Seoul suspended it following the shooting death of one of its tourists near the resort.
The North since has expelled South Korean workers from the resort and vowed to legally dispose of all South Korean assets after it unsuccessfully tried to pressure Seoul to resume the tour program.
South Korea has vowed to take legal and diplomatic steps to protect its property rights in the resort, estimated to be worth about US$375 million.
On Monday, the association said it would not join the North's new international tour program at the resort and called on South and North Korea to hold talks to resolve the dispute.
The South Korean government plans to hold a meeting of its task force on Tuesday to try to map out strategy on how to deal with the North's unilateral move, according to the unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs.