| |
SEOUL: Hundreds of South Koreans working at a Seoul-funded industrial estate in North Korea were to pull out Tuesday after the communist state clamped down on border crossings, officials said.
The North, protesting at what it calls the Seoul government's hostile policy, has said it will give only 880 South Korean managers and officials permits to travel to the Kaesong estate.
This is about half the number South Korea says is needed to keep operations going at the complex, which was built as a symbol of reconciliation but is now the victim of worsening relations.
The tighter controls which went into force Monday also severely restrict the number of times the border will open each day. A cross-border cargo train service and a popular day tour have been suspended indefinitely.
The communist North has indicated it does not want to shut down the Kaesong estate, which earns it millions of dollars a year. But the new restrictions make it harder for companies to operate.
Some 35,000 North Koreans earning about US$70 a month produce items there such as watches, clothes, shoes and kitchenware for 88 South Korean firms.
"As of this morning, a total of 1,039 South Koreans are in Kaesong and 501 of them have no permission to stay," said South Korean unification ministry spokesman Kim Ho-Nyoun.
The 501 would return home Tuesday and Wednesday, he said. Hundreds of others had already quit the estate last week in anticipation of the crackdown.
The North is angry at conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak's tougher policy on cross-border relations.
Lee, who took office in February, has linked major economic aid to progress in the North's nuclear disarmament - in contrast to Seoul's earlier decade-long "sunshine" engagement policy.
He has said he will take a second look at summit agreements reached between the North and his liberal predecessors.
Pyongyang is also fuming at propaganda leaflets floated across the border by rights groups, and at Seoul's decision to censure its human rights record.
Rights activists Tuesday launched more gas balloons carrying the flyers despite pleas to stop from the unification ministry, which handles ties with the North.
Left-leaning critics tried to block the operation on the grounds that it is further damaging cross-border relations.
The two sides exchanged kicks, punches and curses. One person suffered a head injury and was taken to hospital despite police intervention.
Only about 10,000 of the planned 100,000 leaflets were launched because of the scuffles. Police took away activists from both sides for questioning.
The leaflets denounce the North's leader Kim Jong-Il as a dictator and criticise his luxurious lifestyle. They also relay reports that Kim, who is said to have suffered a stroke this summer, is unwell.
- AFP/yb
|
