In a statement of spokesman and a detailed report, they also announced that the DPRK would take charge of the international tour through the areas of the north side.

However, the south Korean authorities call for "repeal of this step", asserting that it is "violation of the agreement" and "unacceptable."

Rejecting such assertion, Rodong Sinmun in a signed commentary Tuesday says:

The conservative authorities of south Korea have neither face nor right to talk about "violation of agreement" and "repeal of step".

They have persistently hindered the tour of Mt. Kumgang, considering it as a thorn in the flesh.

Their refusal to resume the tour of Mt. Kumgang is not for safety of tourists, but it is part of the anti-DPRK scheme to stop the tour, regarding it as "financial resources" for somebody.

For the Korean nation the tour is not a simple sightseeing of mountains and rivers. It was an important work to reconnect the vein and territory of the nation severed by the foreign forces with burning desire for unity and reunification.

It is a mistake for the south Korean authorities to think that the DPRK had made efforts to resume the tour for any economic interests.

The highest privilege granted so far by the DPRK to the south side over the tour of Mt. Kumgang is incomparable to what the former received from it.

The DPRK offered the whole of militarily sensitive area for the tour by the south side. Such being the case, the conservative authorities of south Korea talked nonsense that the tour of Mt. Kumgang is "drain on resources" and "financial resources".

They bedeviled the north-south relations and checked the tour of Mt. Kumgang, laying an obstacle in the way of national unity, cooperation and reunification. This crime can be redeemed with nothing.