President Moon Jae-in has pledged continued efforts to resume an inter-Korean tourism project at North Korea's Mount Geumgang that was suspended in 2008 after a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier.

Moon made the pledge on Friday during a visit to Goseong County in the northeastern Gangwon Province near the inter-Korean border.

The president is believed to have highlighted the inter-Korean project with hopes to use it as an incentive for Pyongyang to take concrete denuclearization steps ahead of the first anniversary of the historic inter-Korean summit held in Panmunjeom last year.

While Gangwon provincial authorities briefed Moon on its peace-based economic growth plan, Moon vowed to support the local government in preparation for an era of a peace-based economy as part of his denuclearization and peace drive.

The president’s trip to the region was the eighth in his nationwide economy tour that has so far taken him to Ulsan, Daejeon, Busan and Daegu this year.

[Photo : YONHAP News]