North Korea says it is expelling South Korean workers from Kaesong

Record ID: 115274

  • Title: North Korea says it is expelling South Korean workers from Kaesong
  • Date: 11th February 2016
  • Summary: PAJU, SOUTH KOREA (FEBRUARY 11, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BORDER CROSSING
  • Embargoed: 26th February 2016 10:53
  • Keywords: North Korea South Korea Kaesong expulsion assets border war
  • Location: PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA / PAJU, SOUTH KOREA
  • City: PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA / PAJU, SOUTH KOREA
  • Country: South Korea
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
  • Reuters ID: LVA002441OCW7
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS EDITED KRT MATERIAL
    North Korea said it was kicking out all South Koreans from the jointly run Kaesong industrial zone on Thursday (February 11), calling the South's move to suspend operations, in retaliation for Sunday's rocket launch by the North, a "declaration of war".
    "It will expel all people from the South in Kaesong Industrial Complex by 5 p.m. (0830GMT), Feb. 11, 2016. It will completely freeze all assets including equipment, materials and products of South Korean enterprises and relevant bodies in the Kaesong Industrial Complex," said the North's state-run television KRT.
    The North also declared the industrial park, which is run by the rivals as a symbol of cooperation for more than a decade, a military control zone, the agency that handles its ties with Seoul said, according to KRT.
    "Unpardonable is the puppet group's act of totally suspending the operation in (Kaesong), finding fault with the DPRK's H-bomb test and launch of a satellite," KRT news reader added.
    DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
    Dozens of South Korean trucks were already returning across the border earlier in the day, laden with goods and equipment, after the South said it was pulling out.
    North Korea tested what it said was a hydrogen bomb on Jan. 6 and on Sunday (February 7) launched a rocket, putting a satellite into orbit.
    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 U.N. resolutions. The U.S. Senate voted unanimously in favour of tougher sanctions.
    North Korea ordered South Koreans out of the zone by late afternoon, forbidding them to take anything other than personal belongings, KRT said. South Korea said after the North's announcement that its top priority was the safe return of all of its people.
    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.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register