By Jon Herskovitz and Kim Junghyun
SEOUL (Reuters) - A North Korean soldier gunned down a53-year-old South Korean woman tourist who wandered into amilitary area at a mountain resort in the North in the predawnhours of Friday, a South Korean official said.
The woman identified by her family name Park, was killed inan incident that comes as ties between the two states havechilled since a new South Korean president took office inFebruary promising to get tough with Pyongyang.
Park was strolling on a beach and entered a fenced-offNorth Korean military area near the Mount Kumgang resort, justnorth of the border on the east coast, and was shot in hertorso and leg by a sentry, the official said.
South Korea will halt tourism to the resort from Saturday,Unification Ministry official Kim Ho-nyoun told a newsconference.
"We expect the North to take appropriate actions, as thisis a regrettable incident," Kim said. South Korean PresidentLee Myung-bak also called the incident "regrettable."
The resort, opened in 1998, is run by an affiliate of SouthKorea's Hyundai Group and has been visited by more than amillion South Koreans.
Park is the first South Korean tourist killed by a NorthKorea since Kumgang opened and the first South Korean shot deadsince a deadly naval skirmish in the Yellow Sea in June 2002that killed North and South Korean sailors, the ministry said.
"(The ministry) needs to confirm reports of whether thewomen climbed the fence," Kim said.
The fenced-off resort has hotels, stores, a golf course anda spa staffed by North Koreans.
There is also a heavy North Korean military presence in thearea, which has been a key naval zone for the reclusive state.
MONEY MAKER FOR NORTH KOREA
The resort has supplied hundreds of millions of dollars toimpoverished North Korea with tourists paying a fee to enterthe country and the communist state taking a cut on food,lodging and recreation expenses paid by tourists.
Local media said about 13,000 tourists currently at Kumgangwill start returning home from Friday night.
The idea behind Kumgang was to have it serve as a centrewhere North and South Koreans could interact in the mountainousarea by the sea that is abundant in natural beauty.
When conversations turn to politics, North Koreans quicklyrecite phrases supplied to them by communist party minders whomake sure they do not become too friendly with the visitors.
Built at a cost of more than $1 billion (505.5 millionpounds), it has only been in recent years that Kumgang hasturned a profit.
Before the incident was announced on Friday, Lee Myung-bak,who took office in February, repeated a call to the North toreturn to inter-Korean discussions.
Pyongyang has called Lee "a traitor to the nation" forcutting off what had been a free flow of aid and seeking to tieSeoul's largesse to progress the North makes in nucleardisarmament.
In April, North Korea said it was cutting off dialogue withits wealthy neighbour despite Lee's calls to tone down heatedrhetoric and get back to serious talks.
(Editing by David Fox)
