North Korea has earned 440 million dollars from the Mount Geumgang tour since the project's inception in 1999.

The Unification Ministry in Seoul on Sunday said an audit on tour operator Hyundai Asan Corporation showed that the company originally agreed to pay 920 million dollars over six years and three months.

But with the tour's demand dropping, Hyundai Asan and the North in 2001 signed a new agreement calling for the company to pay 100 dollars per tourist.