North Korea has called on the United States and South Korea to stop allowing tourists into the buffer zone between the two Koreas.

Pyongyang warned of "possible deadly consequences and unpredictable disasters" if tourism in the heavily guarded border area were to continue.
 

The four-kilometre wide demilitarised zone (DMZ) abuts the border agreed in the truce that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. More than half a million people visit the DMZ every year and it is one of the most visited spots on the Korean peninsula. Panmunjom village, where the armistice was signed, is especially popular with tourists.
 

Tensions between North and South Korea rose sharply over the weekend after an explosion sank a South Korean navy ship in the Yellow Sea. Initial reports said the surveillance vessel had been sunk by a North Korean torpedo but Seoul later retracted the claim.