Pilot tours to North Korea’s Mount Baedku may begin as early as next spring.

Upon returning from working-level talks with North Korean tourism officials, Shin Hee-soo of the South's Korea Tourism Organization said Monday that his delegation had proposed conducting the pilot tours around April or May.

He also said that the North’s delegation had declined to give a final reply on the matter, only saying that it would convey Seoul’s proposal to senior officials.

If the North decides to accept the South's offer, the pilot tours would likely be launched sometime in the spring.

Earlier in June, the Korea Tourism Organization and Hyundai Asan reached an agreement with the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland to carry out pilot tours to the famed mountain - the highest on the Korean Peninsula.