North Korea seized a resort jointly run with the South on Monday, state media reported, in a move likely to ramp up tensions even as Pyongyang seeks to ease relations with the wider world. The isolated communist state ordered all South Koreans to leave the Mount Kumgang resort and said it was taking control of all assests there. The move comes as Pyongyang has begun making overtures to the US after years of sabre-rattling punctuated by missile tests and the detonation of two atomic bombs which saw North Korea thrust deeper into international purdah.
It also coincides with a visit to Russia by reclusive dictator Kim Jong-Il, who is seeking food aid from Moscow to alleviate growing shortages. Mount Kumgang had been closed since a North Korean soldier shot a South Korean tourist there in 2008, and Pyongyang said time had run out to resolve the dispute. All assets owned by South Korean companies in the resort are banned from being taken out as of August 21, a North Korean state agency said through the official Korean Central News Agency.
