North Korea's parliament has reportedly adopted two sets of regulations covering insurance and real estate transactions for South Koreans conducting business in the secretive Stalinist country

Analysts have generally assessed the move as a sign of the impoverished state's willingness to move forward with economic cooperation efforts with the wealthier South, despite ongoing tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear arms development.

The insurance regulations, reported by Northern media on Monday, are primarily aimed at governing South Korean manufacturers and companies planning to open shop at the industrial complex located in the North's border town of Gaesong.

Those regulations require South Korean and foreign business-people working in the complex to take out an insurance policy with a firm that is to be selected by Northern authorities.

Violators of the rule will reportedly be fined up to US$10,000.

The other regulation governs land lease and transactions at Mount Geumgang, a scenic resort on the North's east coast which has been open to South Korean tourists since 1998. The tour has so far drawn 784,000 tourists, mostly South Koreans.