An organization of South Korean businesspeople operating in locations in North Korea other than the Gaeseong Industrial Complex has blasted Seoul’s ban on visits to the North.

In a founding ceremony Monday at the Seoul Press Center, the members of the organization called on the government to immediately lift the ban.

They said the government should show more concern for the dire state of the 40 to 50 South Korean firms operating within North Korean borders. They say the ban on cross-border visits was based on political reasons and has crippled their operations.

The organization also criticized the government's view of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex near the inter-Korean border as the entirety of inter-Korean economic cooperation.

They urged the government to allow their visits to the North, guarantee their operations there and resume tours to the Mount Geumgang resort and projects on the Yellow Sea.