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SEOUL: North Korea could take tougher steps against a South Korean-funded industrial estate unless Seoul changes its policy on Pyongyang, a senior official from the communist state was quoted as saying Thursday.
The North has already expelled hundreds of South Korean staff from the Kaesong estate and imposed strict border curbs in protest at what it calls the South's confrontational policy.
The new warning came Wednesday from Lieutenant-General Kim Yong-Chol after he launched an unscheduled inspection of the estate just north of the heavily fortified border, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper said.
He met about 150 representatives from South Korean factories there.
"If the South continues down this wrong path, stronger steps will be in store," the paper quoted Kim as telling the bosses.
Kim is the top policymaker of the North's powerful National Defence Commission, which is headed by the country's leader Kim Jong-Il .
Dong-A Ilbo also quoted the general as telling the factory bosses that measures "might become tougher" depending on the South's attitude.
"We can live well without the Kaesong estate," he was quoted as saying.
The South's unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean ties, has quoted Kim as saying the border curbs imposed on December 1 would stay in force until Seoul changes its attitude.
A ministry spokesman said he could not confirm the reported warning of tougher steps.
Kim and four other senior officials were scheduled to continue their inspection until late Thursday.
The estate is the most conspicuous result of a historic inter-Korean summit in 2000.
It was built as a symbol of reconciliation and was also seen as a new business model, with the North providing the cheap labour which the South lacks and Seoul supplying the investment and know-how.
More than 37,000 North Koreans work at 88 South Korean firms, producing items such as watches, clothes, shoes and kitchenware.
Apart from evicting South Korean staff at Kaesong, the North suspended a cross-border railway service, cancelled a popular day tour and severely cut back the daily number of permitted border crossings.
The curbs followed months of worsening relations since the conservative government of President Lee Myung-Bak took office in Seoul in February, replacing 10 years of liberal rule.
Lee has linked major economic aid to progress in the North's denuclearisation -- a stance that enrages Pyongyang.
- AFP/yt
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