Seoul has denied a Japanese media report that the two Koreas were very close to resuming the inter-Korean Mount Geumgang tourist program last year before negotiations collapsed.

In a press release on Sunday, the Unification Ministry denied the Asahi Shimbun report that the two sides advanced their negotiations on resuming the inter-Korean project.

Quoting multiple North Korean sources, the Japanese newspaper said the two Koreas conducted negotiations on the resumption in the fall of last year and were on the verge of completing the talks.

Asahi said the negotiations, however, fell apart after U.S. intelligence authorities informed South Korea of an upcoming nuclear test by the North.

The ministry also denied that the two Koreas again agreed substantially on the resumption of the Geumgang project during vice ministerial-level talks in December last year.

The ministry claimed that the vice ministerial talks collapsed because the North made unacceptable demands to resume the tourist program first before it takes appropriate safety measures.

Since launching in November 1998, the Mount Geumgang project had attracted more than two million tourists to the North. The program was suspended in 2008 after a South Korean tourist died after being shot by a North Korean soldier in a restricted area of the resort.