S. Korea expresses 'regret' over N. Korea's threats

SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Monday expressed regret over North
Korea's announcement that it will take retaliatory steps beginning next week
against what Pyongyang called Seoul's confrontational policy toward its communist
neighbor.
"The government expresses serious regret over the North Korean announcement," Kim
Ho-nyoun, spokesman for the Unification Ministry handling inter-Korean affairs,
said in a statement.
North Korea announced earlier in the day that starting Dec. 1, it will suspend
tourism to its border city of Kaesong, restrict border-crossing by South Koreans,
halt the inter-Korean rail service and decrease South Korean manpower at the
joint industrial complex at Kaesong.
"The North's behavior of restricting and halting economic cooperation, which is
meaningful to improving inter-Korean relations, constitutes a grave incident that
would practically reverse the relations," Kim said.
The South urged Pyongyang to withdraw the plans and come back to the dialogue
table to advance inter-Korean relations.
(END)