North Korea will halve the number of South Korean visitors to Mount Geumgang to 600 a day from Thursday.

The North on Monday told Hyundai Asan Corporation, the South Korean operator of the Mount Geumgang tour, that the cut is in response to the company's dismissal of Vice President Kim Yoon-kyu over embezzlement charges.

The tour is thus expected to suffer severe losses, especially from the cancellation of advance reservations.

Begun in 1998, the tour was expected to see demand rise thanks to Friday's introduction of pilot tours to the North's border city of Gaesong.

Hyundai's board recently fired the 61-year-old Kim for misappropriating billions of won in company funds in connection with the tour.