North Korea abolishes economic cooperation with South

Seoul's rubber-stamp parliament votes to abolish laws on economic cooperation with North Korea amid deteriorating relations.

North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament has voted to abolish laws on economic cooperation with the South, state media said Thursday, as relations between the two neighbours hit new lows.

Ties between the two Koreas have been in a deep freeze as Pyongyang accelerates its weapons development programmes and Seoul ramps up military cooperation with Washington and Tokyo, with key inter-Korean economic cooperation projects suspended for years.

At a plenary meeting of the Supreme People's Assembly on Wednesday, officials voted to scrap the law on inter-Korean economic cooperation "with unanimous approbation", the Korean Central News Agency reported.

The latest decision comes after Pyongyang last month declared Seoul its main enemy, jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification, and threatened to occupy the South during war.

The parliament also unanimously approved a plan to abolish a special law on the operation of the Mount Kumgang tourism project, once a prominent symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.

The resort was built by South Korea's Hyundai Asan on one of the North's most scenic mountains, and once drew hundreds of thousands of visitors from the South.