NORTH KOREA:NORTH KOREAN soldiers shot dead a South Korean woman who was visiting Mount Kumgang in the secretive communist state, a resort largely paid for by Seoul.
The shooting could prove a setback in improving relations between the two rivals.
Yonhap news agency said Park Wang-Ja (53) was gunned down while taking a stroll on a beach near a golf course at 4.30am.
As well as being a famous beauty spot on the eastern coast of North Korea, there is a heavy military presence in the area and it is a key naval zone.
The woman apparently strayed into an off-limits military zone and was shot in the chest and leg. Investigations were ongoing about whether Ms Park climbed a fence into the restricted area.
She was warned to stop but tried to run away before she was shot dead.
Relations between the two Koreas have cooled since President Lee Myung-bak took office in February, promising to get tough with Pyongyang. He called the incident "regrettable".
The body was handed over and taken to a hospital at Sokcho, near the border in South Korea.
"We expect the North to take appropriate actions, as this is a regrettable incident," South Korea's unification ministry official Kim Ho-nyouns said. He said Seoul would suspend tourism to the Mount Kumgang resort after the shooting.
Mount Kumgang, which means Diamond Mountain, has great significance in Buddhism and is considered the peninsula's prime beauty spot, with spas and golf courses.
More than a million South Koreans have visited the resort. The area was developed by a unit of the South Korean conglomerate Hyundai, and tours began in November 1998.
Ms Park is the first South Korean tourist killed by a North Korean since Kumgang opened.
