(3rd LD) N. Korea reopens border for S. Koreans amid tension over war drill

(ATTN: RECASTS headline, UPDATES with South Koreans' return, MODIFIES)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Tuesday reopened its borders to South
Koreans visiting a joint industrial complex in the communist state, Seoul
officials said, a day after it severed inter-Korean communications to protest a
South Korea-U.S. war drill.
Hundreds of South Koreans working at the joint complex in the North Korean border
town of Kaesong were stranded after the North's military cut off the last
remaining inter-Korean communications channel on Monday.
"Movements of people and vehicles across the border have now returned to normal,"
Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said.
About 220 people crossed the military demarcation line in the first return since
the border was effectively sealed by the communications shutdown, officials said.

Tension rose sharply after the shutdown, with North Korea blasting the joint
military drill that South Korea and the U.S. began on Monday. Pyongyang charges
the drill is a rehearsal for a "second Korean War."
U.S. General Walter Sharp, head of the 28,500-strong U.S. forces here, rebutted
the claim, saying it is a routine training exercise.
North Korea also warned any outside attempt to shoot down a satellite it plans to
launch will lead to a war on the Korean Peninsula, a possible indication the
launch may take place during the drill.
The communications cut-off led to the immediate closure of the inter-Korean
border, as South Koreans can cross the military demarcation line only after the
North is notified through the communications channel. The military phone and fax
line were the only official means of contact that remained open after several
others were closed by Pyongyang last year in retaliation against Seoul's hardline
policy.
Seoul officials tried to call North Korea through a commercial line owned by KT
Corp., a major South Korean communications operator that runs phone lines in the
Kaesong industrial complex, to reopen the border. North Korea responded at 9:10
a.m. through a hand-delivered letter, the spokesman said.
The North said it will keep the channel closed during the joint drill that ends
on March 20. Until then, cross-border visits will have to be notified between the
Koreas through hand-delivered letters, the ministry spokesman said.
Business trips to the North's Mount Kumgang and others regions in the North have
also resumed.
South Korean workers who returned from Kaesong on Tuesday said it was business as
usual at the North Korean complex.
"The North did not particularly try to control us, and things were as usual,"
Choi Ju-bin, 49, who returned with his co-workers through the western
inter-Korean route in Paju, said.
The complex in Kaesong, several kilometers north of the inter-Korean border and
near the west coast, is a major economic project built after the first
South-North summit in 2000. More than 90 South Korean firms operate in the
industrial zone, producing kitchenware, watches and clothes with some 38,200
North Korean employees.
Seoul analysts agree North Korea does not want to shut down the Kaesong complex,
which generates millions of dollars a year and could help attract foreign
investors. By closing the border for a day, North Korea conveyed the message to
South Korean citizens of what happens when inter-Korean relations are damaged,
said Hong Ihk-pyo, a North Korea analyst with the Korea Institute for
International Economic Policy.
"North Korea made its point clear: inter-Korean economic cooperation is directly
linked to politics, and South Korea and the U.S. are causing the trouble," he
said. "They are reminding South Koreans of the benefits of peace they have lost
over the past year."
Last week, North Korea threatened that it cannot ensure the safety of South
Korean passenger planes in its airspace, prompting major airliners to reroute
their flights. The North had opened its airspace to South Korea in 1998 amid
warming inter-Korean relations.
The aviation warning was also seen by some analysts as a move to clear the
North's airspace before launching what is believed to be a long-range missile.
Inter-Korean relations have dipped to the lowest point in a decade since
President Lee Myung-bak took office about a year ago, adopting a tougher stance
on North Korea's nuclear program and withdrawing Seoul's unconditional aid to the
North.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)