The international tour of Mt. Kumgang is making brisk headway amid great public interest at home and abroad.

Many foreign tourists and tour companies are expressing their will to take an active part in the international tour of Mt. Kumgang. They are making applications for tour, proposing tour contracts, operation of tour facilities and investment, etc.

The relevant units of the DPRK are successfully making every preparation for entry and departure procedures for tourists, transportation and provision of every convenience.

Much upset by big progress made in the international tour of Mt. Kumgang, the Lee Myung Bak regime of south Korea is making desperate efforts to disturb the tour.

According to information disclosed, the Lee group issued a secret order to the missions of south Korea in third countries to employ every means and method to block the tour of Mt. Kumgang to be arranged on the occasion of the Day of the Sun.

Pursuant to this order, the south Korean missions sent official notices to the governments and authorities concerned and tour agencies in the relevant countries and regions, asking them not to send tourists to Mt. Kumgang, claiming that it is "illegal" to do so and "personal safety cannot be guaranteed." Those concerned and field agents of the Ministry of Unification, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Intelligence Service, the Ministry of Defense and others of south Korea are busy with conducting diplomacy and hatching all sorts of despicable plots and carrying out lobbying operations to scuttle the tour.

The Lee group is wooing tour companies of south Korea into bribing foreign shipping companies in a bid to cancel contracts on chartering passenger boats for tour of Mt. Kumgang. And when those companies refuse to meet its requests, the group is threatening that it would make them go to ruin.

The puppet group went the lengths of threatening overseas compatriots active for international tour of Mt. Kumgang in every way and hatching even a sinister plot to abduct them by stealth.

The above-said despicable operations of the Lee group are another grave provocation against the DPRK as they are aimed at chilling the atmosphere of commemorating the auspicious Day of the Sun this year, the centenary of the birth of President Kim Il Sung, tarnish the image of the DPRK, making their bankrupt obstructive steps workable and escalating the confrontation with fellow countrymen in the north.

As far as the tourist incident and the issue of personal safety touted by the Lee group are concerned, they are nothing but far-fetched assertions to block the tour of Mt. Kumgang as their truth has already been brought to light.

The issues of monopoly over the tour of Mt. Kumgang and the right to properties were also clarified by the DPRK after instituting a new law to cope with the south Korean conservative authorities' unilateral suspension of the tour of Mt. Kumgang for years and their step to block south Korean companies from entering the area of Mt. Kumgang.

According to the regulations of the new law, the south Korean business was deprived of the monopoly over the tour of Mt. Kumgang and the right to properties is fully guaranteed to everyone. The properties of enterprises of south Korea no longer remain controversial as the work has already begun to dispose of them by law according to relevant procedures.

All kinds of special privileges and conveniences in the above-said zone are ensured by the law of the Special Zone for International Tour of Mt. Kumgang.

That is why, the number of tour businessmen and tourists willing to take part in the tour has rapidly increased as the days go by since the promulgation of the law.

International tour of Mt. Kumgang was successfully arranged on a trial basis by ships and planes several times last year amid the keen interest of the public at home and abroad.

This being a hard reality, the Lee group is foolish enough to block the tour with sheer sophism. This only brings to light their true colors as confrontation maniacs.

Not content with barring south Koreans from touring Mt. Kumgang, the Lee group is resorting even to such mean and sinister plot to disturb even the international tour, an unpardonable crime. This is, indeed, shame on the nation and the group is the enemy of civilization and the root cause of all evils.

With no desperate effort can the group escape failure in its operations to disturb the tour. It is bound to meet a miserable end, cursed by the nation and censured by the world people.

The world famous Mt. Kumgang is not only the pride of the Korean nation but also cultural heritage common to mankind.

Mt. Kumgang, a superb scenic beauty, is fully open to all tourists in the blooming best tour season of April.

The Guidance Bureau of the Special Zone for International Tour of Mt. Kumgang welcomes all the tourists coming to Mt. Kumgang and will make every possible sincere effort to let them spend pleasant days in the best scenic spot.