North Korea Parliament Ends All Economic Cooperation Agreement with South Korea
North Korea’s parliament has voted to abolish all economic cooperation agreements with South Korea as ties between the two neighbours sharply deteriorate.
The latest decision comes after Pyongyang last month declared Seoul its main enemy, jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification, and threatened to occupy the South during war.
The Supreme People’s Assembly, which takes formal steps to adopt policy allegedly dictated by the ruling Workers’ Party, on Wednesday voted to scrap the law on inter-Korean economic cooperation, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Thursday.
Relations between the two Koreas have been in a deadlock, with key projects suspended for years, as Pyongyang ramps up its weapons development programmes and Seoul bolsters its military cooperation with the United States and Japan.
The assembly also abolished laws on the operation of the Mount Kumgang tourism project, which offered tours and was a symbol of economic cooperation between the two sides that began in the early 2000s, drawing nearly two million South Korean visitors. The resort was built by South Korea’s Hyundai Asan.
The project was suspended in 2008 when a South Korean tourist was shot dead by North Korean guards for straying into a restricted zone.
