calendar>>March 19. 2010 Juch 99
S. Korean Authority Accused of Blocking Resumption of Tour
Pyongyang, March 19 (KCNA) -- The General Scenic Spots Development Guidance Bureau of the DPRK issued a detailed report Friday condemning the conservative group of south Korea for having suspended the tour of Mt. Kumgang and the Kaesong area.

Accusing the south Korean puppet clique of making outcry, asserting the "incident of a tourist in Mt. Kumgang" which occurred in July 2008 was "an excessive retaliation" and "a bullet was fired at the defenseless tourist," the report says this was as preposterous and brazen-faced sophism as patting a stray dog on the back.

As for the accountability for the "incident," it took place due to the carelessness of the victim in every respect and the responsibility for it rests with the south Korean authorities who failed to properly take care and control the tourists, the report says.

It gives a detailed account of the truth about the incident.

The conservative group of south Korea put the "probe into the truth" behind the "above-said incident," "guarantee of safety of tourists" and measures for the "prevention of recurrence of similar incident" as "three preconditions" and asserted that the tour cannot be resumed unless they are met and that the "government remains unchanged in this stand," the report points out, adding:

This is nothing but deliberate efforts to scotch the tour.

As for the safety of tourists and measures for the prevention of recurrence of similar incidents, the north and the south reached an agreement on them after having an exhaustive discussion and the north side assured the south side of them on several occasions as separate issues.

The puppet conservative group including the "Ministry of Unification" is standing in the way of resuming the tour of Mt. Kumgang and the Kaesong area, citing the "three preconditions" as pretext, not prompted by its true concern about the safety of south Korean tourists or worry about the recurrence of the tourist incident.

Citing facts to prove this, the report goes on to say:

By nature the puppet regime has never been concerned about the safety and lives of people as it has regarded sycophancy, treachery and fascist dictatorship as its physiology, kowtowing to the U.S.

Delegates of the south side, sitting at the negotiating table with the north side, staged such charade as "paying silent tribute" to the deceased tourist and raised a hue and cry over "personal safety" and the like in a desperate bid to block the above-said tour. The ulterior aim sought by them through this behavior is to escalate the row of nuclear confrontation with the DPRK and tighten the "sanctions" against it, pursuant to the U.S.

Also lurking behind the attitude of the conservative group is a sinister aim to drive the inter-Korean relations to catastrophe in violation of the north-south joint declaration and build a higher barrier of division and confrontation, going against national reconciliation, unity and reunification.

It is as clear as a pikestaff that it is impossible to settle the issue of resuming the tour no matter how many times the north and south sides may sit at the negotiating table unless the south Korean authorities roll back their policy of confrontation against reunification.

The denial of the resumption of the tour means a denial of the inter-Korean relations and that of the north-south joint declaration and reconciliation, unity and reunification.

The puppet conservative group is sadly mistaken if it calculates it can gain something by blocking the above-said tour.

The south Korean authorities would be well advised to properly understand the gravity of the situation and behave themselves.

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