Thousands of S. Koreans to exit N. Korea as it cuts joint projects

SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- Thousands of South Koreans working at joint facilities in North Korea will pack up and begin to leave on Friday, as Pyongyang stepped up its threats to suspend such programs, officials said.

About 1,200 South Koreans working at a joint industrial complex and nearby
offices in the border city of Kaesong will make an overland trip across the
heavily-armed border into the South, Unification Ministry Spokesman Kim Ho-nyoung
told reporters.
The planned withdrawal comes just days before Pyongyang is set to put into effect
a slew of measures to sever almost all inter-Korean ties.
A similar number of people will return home on the following day, Kim said. He
refused to give an exact figure, saying negotiations are under way between the
two Koreas over how many will stay.
All nine South Koreans working at the first and only inter-Korean joint economic
office in the North will also return home on Friday.
"Of 4,168 people with (North Korea-issued) visas to stay in the Kaesong
industrial complex, around 1,500 to 1,700 have already gotten permission from the
North to stay after Dec. 1," Kim said. "But the number of those allowed to stay
may increase since negotiations are still under way," he added.
Earlier on Friday, a South Korean train headed to North Korea for its last
round-trip across border before the cut-off date. A convoy of buses carrying 210
South Koreans left for Kaesong in what would also be the final such tour for the
foreseeable future.
North Korea announced on Monday its would halt the cross-border train service,
suspend South Korean tours to the ancient city of Kaesong and halve the number of
South Koreans working there and at a resort at Mount Geumgang, effective Dec. 1.
The North also said it would close the joint economic cooperation office and
further restrict border traffic.
Pyongyang has said these are just initial steps to punish Seoul for its hardline
policy toward the North.
North Korea has blamed the conservative South Korean government for heightening
tensions after a decade of reconciliatory steps under its two liberal
predecessors.
The incumbent President Lee Myung-bak, who was elected a year ago on promises to
boost the economy and get tough with North Korea, has said he favors reciprocity
in relations with the communist neighbor. He has vowed that the expansion of
inter-Korean economic cooperation -- promised under the two summit agreements in
2000 and 2007 -- will only follow progress towards Pyongyang's denuclearization.
The Lee administration also co-sponsored a U.N. resolution denouncing Pyongyang's
human rights situation last month, ending Seoul's traditional low-key approach on
the issue.
"I am so sad that the cross-border train service will be suspended again," said
Shin Jang-chul, the train's conductor.
On Dec. 11 last year, Shin drove the first train to cross the border in 56 years
on a reconnected railway. "I was happy then that the two Koreas would have a
regular train service beyond a trial run in May."
Shin expressed hopes that the railway operation would resume soon, while analysts
said it may take quite some time to put it back on track as long as South Korea's
Lee administration maintains its stiff approach.
The start of the regular freight train service was hailed as a milestone in
reconciliation efforts. But the trains have run nearly empty, as most of
Kaesong's 88 firms prefer using trucks.
The South Korean-run companies employ more than 36,000 North Korean and 1,600
South Korean workers.
More than 110,000 people have taken the sightseeing tour to Kaesong since its
launch in December last year. South Korean-run tours to the North's scenic
mountain of Geumgang were suspended in July after tourist was shot dead there by
a North Korean soldier.
sshim@yna.co.kr