Kim orders South’s buildings at resort in North be destroyed

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the destruction of South Koreanmade hotels and other tourist facilities at the North’s Diamond Mountain resort, apparently because Seoul won’t defy international sanctions and resume South Korean tours at the site.

Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday that Kim had visited the resort and described its facilities as “shabby” and lacking national character. The report said Kim criticized North Korea’s policies pushed under his late father as too dependent on the South and vowed that the North would redevelop the site on its own.

Kim’s comments came during a prolonged freeze in relations with Seoul and are a major setback to liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who met Kim three times last year while expressing ambitions to reboot inter-Korean economic engagement.

South Korean officials held back direct criticism on Kim’s remarks, saying they need to take a closer look at the North’s intent.

Experts are mixed on whether North Korea is really intending to independently develop tourism at Diamond Mountain or trying to dial up pressure on the South to restart the tours and upgrade the aging facilities.

Tours to Diamond Mountain were a major symbol of cooperation between the Koreas before the South suspended them in 2008 after a North Korean guard fatally shot a South Korean tourist there.

Seoul can’t restart interKorean economic activities without defying U.S.-led international sanctions against Pyongyang.