S. Korea expresses regret over N. Korea`s border restrictions

(ATTN: UPDATES with more of ministry briefing, background; COMBINES with story filed earlier)
By Shim Sun-ah
SEOUL, Dec. 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Monday expressed regret over North Korea's actions to restrict border crossings by South Koreans and again urged Pyongyang to retract them.
The North earlier barred 56 South Koreans from crossing the border into the North
Korean border city of Kaesong where they work, saying they are no longer allowed
to enter under its changed immigration rules.
Pyongyang has threatened to strictly control overland traffic across the heavily
armed border by South Koreans, beginning Monday, in its initial steps to
retaliate against Seoul for its "confrontational" policy toward the North.
"The traffic ban taken by the North today is very regrettable since it will
cripple production activities by South Korean firms (in Kaesong) and undermine
market confidence," Kim Ho-nyoun, spokesman for the Seoul's Unification Ministry
in charge of North Korea affairs, said in a statement.
"As it goes against inter-Korean agreements, including those related to staying
in Kaesong and Mount Geumgang, the measure will never be justified and must be
retracted," the spokesman said.
Pyongyang on Sunday informed the South of its final decision to limit the number
-- currently 1,500 to 1,700 -- of South Koreans working at factories,
construction and service firms in the joint enclave to 880, far below the level
sought by Seoul, Kim said.
Pyongyang earlier ordered the number of South Korean residents be reduced by
half. But South Korean firms demanded most of them be allowed to stay since they
are all "essential" to the firms' management activities.
Many fear the downsizing will have a negative impact on the operations of the 88
small-sized South Korean manufacturers currently in the North, despite
Pyongyang's pledge to exempt them from initial retaliatory measures against what
it calls Seoul's "confrontational" policy.
Nearly all cross-border projects were put on hold over the weekend with the
North's announcement. South Korea halted over-the-border railway operation and
sightseeing tours to the ancient North Korean city and evacuated thousands of its
nationals from Kaesong and the South Korea-run mountain resort of Geumgang on the
North's east coast over the weekend.
Currently, only about 680 South Korean nationals are in Kaesong, down from around
4,000 early last week.
Inter-Korean relations have worsened since South Korea's conservative President
Lee Myung-bak took office in February and took a firmer stance toward Pyongyang
than his two liberal predecessors.
Pyongyang has so far blamed Lee for heightening tensions by refusing to implement
a slew of cross-border economic projects that were agreed upon in historic
summits of 2000 and 2007 and to change his stance toward Pyongyang. Those
projects would require massive South Korean investment in the impoverished
communist state.
North Korea has also voiced strong opposition to the spreading of anti-Pyongyang
leaflets by South Korean activist groups and South Korea's large-scale war
exercises with the U.S. military. It was also angered by Seoul's participation as
a co-sponsor of the U.N. resolution denouncing Pyongyang's human rights situation
last month.
sshim@yna.co.kr
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