Rodong Sinmun, the North's Communist party newspaper, said Pyongyang might end civilian exchanges with Seoul including the Mt Kumgang tour programme and the Kaesong joint industrial complex, if Seoul continues to be hostile. “If the group of traitors keeps to the road of reckless confrontation with the DPRK [North Korea], defaming its dignity in spite of its repeated warnings, this will compel it to make a crucial decision including the total freeze of the North-South relations,” the newspaper said.
The threat comes only a few days after North Korea said it would resume dismantling its nuclear reactor, following a US decision to remove it from the list of sponsors of terrorism. Hopes for another round of six-party talks aimed at disarming North Korea are growing in Seoul with analysts speculating that discussions could be held this month.
Seoul's unification ministry played down the threat, saying the newspaper was not stating Pyongyang's official position. “It does not mean the North will take steps immediately,” Kim Ho-nyeon, the ministry spokesman, said. “There is no change in the government's intention to improve South-North relations .”