The DPRK “will expel all persons of the south side in the KIZ till 5 p.m., February 11, 2016”, the official news agency KCNA reported, citing a statement released by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK).
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Tensions have risen since North Korea’s nuclear test last month, followed by its long-range rocket launch on Sunday that outsiders see as a banned test of ballistic missile technology.
North Korea is also freezing all assets related to theKaesong Industrial Complex and cutting two communications hotlines between the neighboring countries.
– MILITARY OFFICIAL EXECUTED?: A South Korean official said Thursday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had his military chief executed for corruption and other charges.
South Korea’s sudden withdrawal from a factory park in North Korea is a severe blow for the South Korean businesses that populated it, but is unlikely to make much difference to the North’s decrepit economy despite being a stern diplomatic measure. The measures, which require Cabinet and parliamentary action, will include expanded restrictions on travel between the countries and a complete ban on visits by North Korean ships to Japanese ports.
North Korea launched a long-range rocket Sunday and placed what it described as an “Earth observation satellite” into orbit.
The statement also issued crude insults against South Korean President Park Geun-hye, saying she masterminded the shutdown and calling her a “confrontational wicked woman” who lives upon “the groin of her American boss”.
Still, Pyongyang took precautions to ensure the workers it hand-picked for the complex had minimal contact with their South Korean managers that could be potentially subversive.
South Koreans were divided by their government’s decision. Supporters of the project said that kind of contact was important in promoting inter-Korean understanding, despite concerns that Pyongyang might have used proceeds from Kaesong to help fund its nuclear and missile programs.
Kaesong is the last remaining point of co-operation between the two Koreas and a vital source of cash for the North.
North Korea, impoverished due to the isolation imposed by decades of authoritarian rule, earned $560 million from the park since it started operating in 2004, including $120 million past year alone, Seoul says.
The military on Thursday retrieved what is believed to be debris from the rocket North Korea launched earlier this week.
Kim Soo-hee, South Korean Nurse, said the move surprised her.
The Kremlin demands an apology from South Korea for accusation it may have provided North Korea with rocket technology.
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Halting activity at the park, where 124 South Korean companies employed about 55,000 North Koreans, cuts the last significant vestige of North-South cooperation – a rare opportunity for Koreans divided by the 1950-53 war to interact on a daily basis. The military channel between two Koreas and the Panmunjeom channel will also be closed, according to Yonhap’s report. In a statement, the association of South Korean companies at Kaesong denounced Seoul’s decision as “entirely incomprehensible and unjust”.
