North Korea plans to hold an investor relations session in April as part of efforts to develop its scenic eastern coastal region into a world-class tourist zone, its state media said Tuesday.

According to a report by the North's Korean Central News Agency, the North Korean company in charge of developing the eastern coastal areas of Wonsan and Mount Kumgang plans to invite potential investors in April for a presentation and tour of the region.

"We are planning to push for diverse measures to attract investment in order to develop these areas into the tourism zone that provides (customers) with high-quality service," the KCNA quoted the company's chief, Oh Ung-kil, as saying.

In June last year, the North announced a parliamentary decision on the establishment of the Wonsan-Kumgang International Tourism Zone, and has been pushing for the development project.

Stressing the goal of turning the 430-square-kilometer area into a world-class tourist attraction, the chief said "the blueprint for the project has been completed and the construction and maintenance for the necessary infrastructure have been underway."

The Wonsan area harbors major scenic spots and tourist facilities such as the Masikryong Ski Resort on the Masik mountain pass, which opened in 2013.

Pyongyang began promoting its plan to create international tour packages to scenic mountain areas after its tour program with South Korea was suspended over the deadly shooting of a female tourist from the South at Mount Kumgang in 2008. Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans had joined the tour before it was halted.

The North has prodded the Seoul government to hold talks on the tour's resumption, a key cash cow for Pyongyang, but Seoul has demanded a formal apology from the North for the shooting in addition to improved security measures for tourists.

In a desperate move to revive its moribund economy, the impoverished communist country has drawn up a blueprint to develop 13 special economic zones across the nation, according to a separate KCNA report released last December. (Yonhap)