North Korea has reiterated it intends to dispose South Korean companies' assets in Mount Geumgang.

A spokesman for the North’s authority for managing Mount Geumgang resort told the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency Tuesday that legal steps will be taken to dispose the South Korean assets in line with its new law on promoting tourism at the mountain resort.

The spokesman added that the South is maintaining its position that the North is violating property rights although the North had extended a deadline for South Korean companies to take action on their assets.

The spokesman claimed that it was the South that had unilaterally suspended tours to Mount Geumgang without consulting the North and said the South is now blocking the resumption of tours. The spokesman also stressed that the resort area is in North Korea's sovereign territory, and hence the issue of asset disposal is under its jurisdiction.

On the South’s calls for the North to address the shooting death of a South Korean tourist by a North Korean soldier at the Geumgang resort in 2008, the spokesman said the South is to blame for the incident, saying the South Korean tourist illegally entered an area restricted by the military.