South Korea warned on Thursday that it would take “necessary measures” if Pyongyang continued to use, without authorization from Seoul, a joint industrial complex located in the North.
“North Korea must stop immediately. If North Korea does not respond to our request, we will take the necessary measures based on the fact that it has admitted to operating the complex without authorization,” Seoul warned, without specifying the type of measures to be taken. taken referred
More than 50,000 North Korean workers labored at the Kaesong industrial complex, making everything from watches to clothing for some 125 South Korean companies that provided funding and equipment.
In 2016, Seoul withdrew from the project, launched after the 2000 inter-Korean summit and seen as a symbol of reconciliation between North and South, in response to a nuclear test and missile launch by Pyongyang, claiming that the proceeds of Kaesong were running out. finance provocations.
But Pyongyang continued to use South Korean facilities and property without authorization, the South Korean Ministry of Unification said.
South Korea’s liaison office has already demanded a halt to activities at the industrial complex, but North Korea has refused to accept the warning, Seoul said.
The announcement comes a day after the North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun published a series of photos showing what appears to be a South Korean bus driving through Pyongyang.
The bus was allegedly used to transport North Korean officials from the Kaesong compound before the lockdown, the ministry said.
When it opened, the trade zone was virtually the only form of economic cooperation between the two Koreas, providing valuable foreign exchange to the impoverished North, as well as cheap labor and tax breaks for companies in the South.
North Korea has intensified military and nuclear development since the failed 2019 Hanoi (Vietnam) summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and former US President Donald Trump.
In March, it tested a weapon, described by North Korean state media as an “underwater nuclear attack drone,” and launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Since early last year, authorities in Seoul and Washington have been warning about the possibility of a seventh North Korean nuclear test.
Source: TSF
