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.
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Speculation about his fate flared after he missed two key national events in North Korea: a meeting of senior ruling Workers’ Party officials last week and a rally celebrating the North’s rocket test this week.
Rising tension… South Korean protesters burn an effigy of North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un during an anti-North Korea rally on Thursday in Seoul, South Korea.
“Now we can say that all strings between the Koreas have been cut and that there are no more buffers”, said Dr Ko Yoo Hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University in Seoul.
And The Associated Press quoted an unnamed South Korean official as saying that Ri’s execution was part of Kim’s effort to bolster his grip on power.
But they weren’t allowed to bring back any finished products and equipment at their factories because the North announced it will freeze all South Korean assets there. “Our government has been quite inflexible in dealing with North Korea”, said Professor Moon.
The United States, Japan and South Korea said Sunday’s launch was a ballistic missile test, and like last month’s nuclear test, a violation of UN resolutions.
“An escalation of tensions is inevitable, and I see further trouble ahead with Kaesong and the issues of seized assets, especially if North Korea militarizes the zone”, Ko said.
Dozens of South Korean trucks also returned across the border, according to Reuters. In April 2013, the North shut down the complex for four months after Seoul and Washington staged military drills together. In August past year, for instance, both sides agreed to end a military standoff prompted by the wounding of South Korean soldiers in landmine blasts and the resumption of high-volume propaganda broadcasts via loudspeakers at the border to the North. This small breakthrough had led to new peace talks between the two sides, which have since broken down.
Well after the North’s expulsion deadline, however, an unknown number of South Koreans remained at Kaesong.
The United States supported the move by its close ally, and said it was considering its own, unspecified “unilateral measures” to punish Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test and rocket launch, even as the U.N. Security Council deliberates imposing more multilateral sanctions.
He said, meanwhile, that South Korea will continue strategic communication with China and Russian Federation.
Chang Beom Kang, who has been running an apparel company in Kaesong since 2009, said from South Korea that his company has about 920 North Korean workers – who didn’t show up on Thursday – and seven South Korean managers at Kaesong.
“I’m speechless at what has happened”, said Jang Ik-Ho, a manager with an engineering company in the complex.
In one of its harshest possible punishment options, South Korea on Thursday began work to suspend operations at the factory park.
The government in Seoul said the closure decision was “unavoidable” in the circumstances, but company owners insisted their businesses were being liquidated by bad politics.
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It has become a major revenue source for the cash-strapped North, with South Korean firms paying up to €90 million in annual wages to the North Koreans.
