A cargo train between North and South Korea and tours from the South to the communist state stopped on Friday under a border clampdown called for by Pyongyang in anger at the conservative government in Seoul.
But a large number of South Koreans who work at a joint industrial enclave in the North Korean border city of Kaesong were being allowed to keep permits to enter the factory park there, despite an earlier vow by Pyongyang to expel many of them by December 1, officials said.
"Today is the last day of Kaesong tours, and today is the last day of the train runs," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon told a briefing in Seoul. While the border was being shut to trains and tours, as many as 1,700 people have been told they can keep their permits to enter the Kaesong factory zone, spokesman Kim said. But the first of the approximately 1,000 people, including government officials, began pulling out on Friday and some expressed disappointment that their role was cut short.
"I wish South-North ties would improve as early as possible so that we can return to do our jobs," Kim Chang-soo, with the joint management office, said as he crossed the border. The factory park has provided cash-starved North Korea with hundreds of millions of dollars and is expected to be operating near normally on Monday, despite the border clampdown. |
