North Korea seeks talks with South for lucrative tours

The reclusive North has lost out on tens of millions of dollars a year it used to earn through tourism with the South over wrangling in the aftermath of Pyongyang's military threats to the region and nuclear arms program.

The proposal, disclosed in a dispatch by the North's official KCNA news agency, came on the day the rival Koreas agreed to hold separate talks on a joint industrial project.

North Korea's wobbly economy has been dealt blows by fresh U.N. sanctions imposed after its nuclear test in May 2009 and currency control measures it imposed at the end of last year that made it more difficult for its impoverished people to buy goods.

"It is very regrettable that tours of Mt. Kumgang and the area of Kaesong have been suspended for one and a half years," KCNA said, adding the North proposed talks for January 26 and 27 at the Mount Kumgang resort.