The ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs said it has yet to receive a notice from North Korea amid reports that the regime has begun removing a South Korea-owned facility at the shuttered Mount Geumgang resort.

Unification ministry spokesperson Lee Jong-joo said on Monday that Seoul has not received any related information from Pyongyang since the North postponed the facility removal in January 2020 over COVID-19 concerns.

The spokesperson said Pyongyang must not unilaterally act to infringe upon the property rights of South Korean businesses, adding that all matters should be resolved through consultation between the two Koreas.

Citing satellite images, Voice of America(VOA) earlier reported that the North appears to have begun to dismantle the Haegumgang Hotel inside the resort, which was owned and operated by Hyundai Asan since 2000.

The inter-Korean tour program to the North's Mount Geumgang was launched in 1998 as a major cross-border cooperative project. It was suspended in 2008 after a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier.

In 2019, Pyongyang announced plans to remove the resort's facilities, following orders from regime leader Kim Jong-un.

[Photo : YONHAP News]