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

(ATTN: UPDATES with more measures from N. Korea in paras 10-12, activists' plan to
send leaflets at bottom)
By Shim Sun-ah
SEOUL, Dec. 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Monday expressed regret over North
Korea's actions restricting 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 city of Kaesong where they work, saying they are no longer allowed to
enter under its tightened immigration rules.
Pyongyang has threatened to strictly control overland traffic by South Koreans
across the heavily armed border beginning Monday as part of initial retaliatory
steps 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 Seoul's Unification Ministry,
which handles North Korea affairs, said in a statement.
"As it goes against inter-Korean agreements, including those related to staying
in Kaesong and Mount Kumgang, 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
of South Koreans working at factories, construction and service firms --
currently set at 1,500 to 1,700 -- in the joint enclave to 880, far below the
level sought by Seoul, Kim said.
Pyongyang earlier ordered the number of South Korean residents to be reduced by
half, though South Korean firms demanded most of them be allowed to stay as they
are "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 its retaliatory measures.
Nearly all cross-border projects were put on hold over the weekend following the
North's announcement last Monday. South Korea halted over-the-border railway
operation and sightseeing tours to the ancient city of Kaesong, and evacuated
thousands of its nationals from the city and the South Korea-run mountain resort
of Kumgang on the North's east coast over the weekend.
Early Monday, there were only about 680 South Korean nationals in Kaesong, down
from around 4,000 a week ago.
North Korea reduced the number of crossings by South Koreans through its western
land border from 19 daily crossings to just six.
It also announced plans to immediately expel those carrying "prohibited"
publications, such as South Korean newspapers and magazines criticizing the
North, into the factory complex, according to the ministry spokesman.
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 was angered by Seoul's participation as a co-sponsor of the U.N.
resolution denouncing Pyongyang's human rights situation last month. It has also
voiced strong opposition to South Korea's large-scale war exercises with the U.S.
military and the spreading of anti-Pyongyang leaflets by South Korean activist
groups.
The activists groups, however, say they will continue with plans to launch
balloons filled with 100,000 flyers over the western land border into the North
on Tuesday in retaliation against Pyongyang's hostile measures.
sshim@yna.co.kr
(END)