N.K. official visits Kaesong complex amid chilly business environment

(ATTN: UPDATES lead, throughout with ministry spokesman quote, detail)
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean senior defense official is holding
talks with South Korean businessmen operating in the joint industrial complex in
Kaesong amid frozen cross-border business ties, the Unification Ministry said
Wednesday.

The visit by Kim Yong-chol, a senior official of North Korea's National Defense
Commission, comes after Pyongyang tightened measures to control travel across the
border by South Koreans as of Dec. 1. The North has repeatedly warned that
business operations at Kaesong, just north of the heavily armed inter-Korean
border, could be affected unless Seoul changes its hardline policy toward
Pyongyang.
Kim, accompanied by four other defense officials, said the purpose of his visit
was to "convey the meaning of the Dec. 1 measure, check how it has been
implemented and look into the current situation of the Kaesong industrial
complex," Ministry Spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun told reporters.
North Korea reduced to half the number of South Korean officials and managers
allowed at the Kaesong complex early this month as part of retaliatory measures
against Seoul's policy. A complete shutdown could occur should Seoul maintain its
current stance, Pyongyang has warned.
Several South Korean companies have reportedly already started to cancel plans to
build factories there as concerns mount over deteriorating inter-Korean
relations.
There are currently 88 South Korean companies employing around 36,000 North
Koreans operating at the complex.
The North Korean official planned to visit more than a dozen South Korean firms
in Kaesong until Thursday. He conducted a similar on-site survey in Kaesong on
Nov. 6, about a week before Pyongyang announced the Dec. 1 measure.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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