Pyongyang responded Thursday by announcing a military takeover of the complex near the border of the two countries, ordering all South Koreans to leave, and seizing the possible bounty of equipment and assets left behind.
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The deported South Koreans are allowed to fetch only personal items, and the frozen assets will be managed by a DPRK committee, according to the statement.
“Some media that obtained the relevant information have published reports distorting the contents of the NIS clarification statement”, the South Korean side said.
Although Seoul said there was no formal deadline for people to leave Kaesong, a number of people said they had been told to get out by Saturday afternoon at the latest.
“From 10 p.m. (10:30 p.m., South Korean time) on February 11, (the North) will seal off the industrial park and nearby military demarcation line, shut the western overland route and declare the park as a military off-limit zone”. The workers received about 20 per cent of that in coupons and North Korean currency, said Cho Bong-hyun, who heads research on North Korea’s economy at IBK Bank in Seoul. Both actions are banned by United Nations resolutions.
North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear weapons test last month and on Sunday fired a long-range rocket over Japanese airspace in what is widely believed to be a test of a new missile system.
SEOUL, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) – South Korean companies running factories at the Kaesong Industrial complex on Thursday crossed the inter-Korean border into the jointly-run industrial park with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), to bring back products and materials.
Analysts said the closure of the park, one of strongest nonmilitary measures available to South Korean President Park Geun-hye, will not be debilitating for North Korea’s economy.
Japan also unveiled unilateral measures on Wednesday, including prohibiting North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports and a total entry ban on North Korean nationals into Japan.
“The relations between the two Koreas will remain extremely sour for some time”, Kim Soo Am, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said by phone after the North Korean announcement.
The South Korean government said Friday it will extend loans, provide low-interest loans, and defer taxes and utility bills for the companies forced out of Kaesong.
Yoon Sang-eun, 62, a South Korean driver for a firm at the factory park, said that if Kaesong “stops operating, companies like us nearly have to close off business”.
In 2013, the complex was shutdown by the North for five months during a state of heightened diplomatic tension. But, generally, the complex has always been seen as above the constant squabbling and occasional bloodshed between the rival Koreas, one of the last bright spots in a relationship more often marked by threats of war.
“Kaesong is inside North Korea, just six miles north of the border”.
The question among some is, why now?
In the wake of the latest missile launch and nuclear test, Seoul along with Washington and Tokyo have more fully committed to compel Pyongyang to comply with global demands to end its nuclear program.
Seoul’s Unification Ministry said in response that it would prioritize ensuring the safe return of South Koreans from the complex.
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Combining the South’s capital and technology with the North’s cheap labour, the industrial park has been seen as a test case for reunification.
