Explaining how the tour of Mt. Kumgang was scotched, the statement said:

South Koreans' tour of Mt. Kumgang that had been under way for nearly a decade since 1998 under the agreement between the DPRK and the south Korean Hyundai Group came to a suspension as the south Korean puppet authorities raised the tourist incident in July 2008 as a pretext.

At around 4:50 in early morning on July 11, 2008 an unidentified person intruded into the area under the military control of the DPRK side in the area of Kosong Port, Kosong County, Kangwon Province which is adjacent to Mt. Kumgang.

The intruder crossed the location mark, fence, dune, gulley and several obstacles and entered deep into the area under the military control of the DPRK side which was situated along the beach.

A DPRK soldier on duty shouted stop order according to the rules as soon as the intruder was spotted. But the intruder turned around and began to run, instead of responding to the interception order.

Despite the repeated stop order, warning of firing and warning shots, the intruder hurriedly ran away. The soldier could not but take a decisive act according to the rules of guard duty.

Neither a certificate card nor any mark confirming her identity could be found on the intruder's body. She did not even keep a tourist card which was obligatory for all the tourists.

The DPRK side had lots of questions but, as she was claimed as south Korean tourist by the Hyundai side, allowed relevant persons of the south side to come to the scene of incident and take photograph, provided conditions for probing the truth and handed over the remains out of compatriotism and humanitarianism.

The General Guidance Bureau for the Development of Scenic Spots of the DPRK (at that time) and the military unit in Mt. Kumgang area of the Korean People's Army expressed regret through special statements of their spokesmen.

But no sooner had the incident happened than the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors kicked up a confrontation farce without even inquiring into the specific circumstances, while talking about "provocation". Portraying the incident, the south side said that the DPRK side fired at an innocent tourist in the middle of tour.

The next day the south side unilaterally declared the suspension of the tour.

As for the responsibility of the incident, it rested with the south side which took the loose control of its tourists.

Disclosing the truth concerning the issue of guaranteeing the safety of tourists, which the south Korean puppet regime is putting up as an absurd pretext, the statement continued:

The issue of personal safety of tourists is clarified in the auxiliary agreement on the tour of Mt. Kumgang which was concluded between the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee and the Hyundai Group in October, 1998 and the agreement on entry into and exit out of Kaesong Industrial Zone and Mt. Kumgang tourist area and stay there which was adopted at the 13th north-south ministerial talks in February, 2004.

The great Generalissimo Kim Jong Il personally received the chairwoman of the Hyundai Group of south Korea when she visited Pyongyang in August, 2009 and gave firm assurances as for the personal safety of the south Korean tourists in the name of the supreme commander, being considerate of her request.

Under this measure, a joint press release between the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee and the south Korean Hyundai Group was made public in Pyongyang on August 17.

Kim Jong Il's meeting with the Hyundai chairwoman and the joint press release created big splashes at home and abroad. Every body admitted that it clearly provided a sure guarantee for the personal safety of the tourists.

But only the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors behaved so sordid as to turn its back on the DPRK, saying that "it can not recognize the agreement reached at the civilian level" and "the authorities have no obligation to fulfill the agreement the NGO businesswoman made with the north".

The conservative group said that even though the supreme leader of the north gave affirmative assurances regarding the personal safety, it does not mean that it will be followed through.

To give assurances as for the personal safety of tourists to the south side's authorities, the DPRK side took the initiative of suggesting the north-south authorities' talks several times since November, 2009 and this finally led to the working talks between the authorities of the north and the south in Kaesong on Feb. 8, 2010 for discussing the issue of resuming the tour of Mt. Kumgang.

But the south side did not look at the draft agreement suggested by the DPRK side but made far-fetched assertions while raising illogical issues. It stooped to such a mean act as walking out of the meeting hall.

This being a hard fact, the conservative group put up the personal safety as the preconditions for the resumption of the tour of Mt. Kumgang.

After the breakdown of the working talks, the puppet group did not respond to a series of proposals for authorities-level talks made by the DPRK side for the resumption of the tour of Mt. Kumgang under the pretext of "examination" and "future notification". It even totally denied the north-south dialogue, saying that it is not "right time" now.

The south Korean authorities even raised "Cheonan" warship sinking incident and Yonphyong Island shelling incident and even the nuclear issue which were completely irrelevant to the tour of Mt. Kumgang, thus deliberately laying obstacles in the way of resuming the tour.

It even resorted to a whole gamut of sordid acts to hamper the international tour of Mt. Kumgang.

It let loose groundless accusations that the international tour "breaches the law on south-north exchange and cooperation" and "runs counter to international usage". It loudly spoke about "legal and diplomatic counteraction" and foolishly tried to make the issue of international tour of Mt. Kumgang one of international disputes.

The south Korean regime desperately stood against south Korean NGO businessmen's participation in the international tour of Mt. Kumgang.

It even enforced news blackout, preventing its criminal nature from being known to the south Korean public.

The statement said that the south Korean regime's act of treachery can never be tolerated, stressing that with nothing can it cover up its criminal nature.