South Korea pulls out from jointly run complex with the North

Feb 18, 2016, 08:27

Further unraveling a project that's been a sign of cooperation, North Korea is ordering all South Koreans from a jointly run industrial complex, after South Korea announced it would suspend work there in retaliation for Pyongyang's recent missile launch and nuclear test. Pyongyang also said it would cut two communication hotlines with the South once the workers were expelled.

A cross-border highway that has linked North and South since 2004 has also been closed, and the North's military is to retain control of the road, The New York Times reported.

By shutting Kaesong, the South had killed the "last lifeline" of North-South relations and made a "dangerous declaration of war" that could bring the divided peninsula to the brink of conflict, the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said in statement.

"I was told not to bring anything but personal goods, so I've got nothing but my clothes to take back", the man said. According to Seoul data, more than $515 million worth of textiles, electronic parts and other goods were produced in 2015.

A South Korean news agency, Yonhap, said Seoul had bolstered military readiness along the western portion of the border but the defence ministry could not confirm the report.

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A South Korean driver changes his vehicle number after returning from North Korea's joint Kaesong Industrial Complex at the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016.

The US national intelligence director, James Clapper, warned on Tuesday that North Korea had expanded its production of weapons-grade nuclear fuel, and said the US now regarded Pyongyang, rather than Iran, as the world's most worrying nuclear threat.

In September 2014, Pyongyang drafted a new operational regulation - rejected by Seoul - that would have allowed the North to detain South Korean businessmen in Kaesong in the event of an unresolved business dispute.

This was the first unilateral closing of the industrial park by the South Korean government, which concluded that the cash paid to the North in workers' wages and investment was misused for the development of nuclear weapons and missiles. Hundreds of South Korean workers are stranded at the complex but factories continue operations. But China, North Korea's main ally, has been resisting the US-led push for tougher United Nations sanctions.

The complex housed 124 South Korean companies which employed about 55,000 North Koreans.

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A South Korean government official is quoted as saying the decision was taken reluctantly and it is hard to see how operations could be resumed in the near future.

Jang's remarks reflected a general sense of outrage among Kaesong's South Korean business community over the shutdown order.

"Kaesong is inside North Korea, just six miles north of the border".

South Korean businesses at the park urged the government to reconsider the shutdown.

The measures mark a significant escalation of cross-border tensions that have been elevated since North Korea carried out a nuclear test last month and a long-range rocket launch on Sunday. Some South Korean snacks have become popular among North Korean workers.

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