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SEOUL - North Korea announced Monday it would clamp down on cross-border movements and suspend a historic railway service from December 1 in protest at what it called South Korea's policy of confrontation.
The hardline communist state said it would "selectively expel" South Koreans based at two joint projects in the North, the Kaesong industrial estate and the Mount Kumgang tourist resort.
Military authorities would "strictly restrict" border crossings by South Koreans headed for the two projects, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
A popular tour by Southerners to the North's city of Kaesong would also be suspended, the agency said, announcing what it called "the first step to cope with the prevailing grave situation in relations."
The North on October 12 announced plans "to strictly restrict and cut off" border passages from December 1. Monday's announcement was the first indication of what it planned.
The restrictions could cripple operations at Kaesong, where more than 32,000 North Koreans work for 83 South Korean-owned factories along with about 1,500 South Koreans.
The project earns the impoverished North tens of millions of dollars a year.
Announcing detailed plans, the North blasted comments by South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak during his US trip.
Lee reportedly said his ultimate aim is reunification of the peninsula under a liberal democratic system.
Earlier Monday the North had called the bosses of some 80 Kaesong factories to a meeting at the estate just north of the heavily fortified border, apparently to brief them on proposed steps.
KCNA said the head of the North's delegation to cross-border military talks told his Southern counterpart Monday of the planned restrictions.
Pyongyang has already closed its Red Cross mission and direct phone links at the truce village of Panmunjom.
"More strict order and discipline will be enforced as regards the passage and entry into the Kaesong Inudstrial Zone and Mount Kumgang tourist area and stringent sanctions applied against any violators of them," the North's statement said.
"The prospect of the inter-Korean relations will entirely depend on the attitude of the South Korean authorities," it quoted the military delegation chief as saying.
Mount Kumgang on the east coast is already effectively shut down after North Korean soldiers in July shot dead a woman tourist who strayed into a restricted zone.
The South suspended tours there on safety grounds after the North refused its demand for a joint investigation into the tragedy.
The first regular train service for half a century across the heavily fortified frontier began in December 2007.
It was hailed as a landmark in reconciliation between two nations, which are still technically at war following their 1950-53 conflict, but has carried little cargo.
The border curbs follow months of icy relations, including threats by the North over the spreading of cross-border propaganda leaflets by Seoul activists.
The North says the border restrictions are in response to Seoul's failure to honour agreements reached at inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007.
Relations soured after Lee, a conservative, took office in Seoul in February.
He promised to take a firmer line with the North after a decade-long "sunshine" engagement policy under his liberal predecessors.
Lee said he would review the summit agreements, which envisage joint economic projects costing tens of billions of dollars. AFP/vm
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