S. Koreans unable to cross border amid tension over N. Korean rocket plan

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, March 13 (Yonhap) -- The inter-Korean border remained closed on Friday as
North Korea failed for the second time this week to respond to calls from Seoul
to allow visits to a joint industrial complex in the North, officials said.
North Korea sealed the inter-Korean border on Monday and cut off the only
remaining communication channel with the South in protest at an ongoing joint
military exercise by South Korea and the United States. But the North reopened
the border in a day's time, even though it kept the military communication line
severed.
More than 90 South Korean firms operate in the industrial complex in the North's
border town of Kaesong as a reconciliatory product of the first inter-Korean
summit in 2000. Hundreds of people and scores of vehicles cross the military
demarcation line every day, transporting raw materials and products.
The Unification Ministry said about 600 people scheduled to visit Kaesong were
held back south of the border as North Korea withheld approval for their travel.
"The North is just telling us to wait without giving any reasons," ministry
spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said.
The delay forced some South Koreans to cancel their trips. A team from medical
aid group Green Doctors who had planned a one-day trip to Kaesong Hospital put
off their mission.
"We were scheduled to enter North Korea at 10 a.m., but we were just told to
wait. We thought even if we go, we may not be able to return today and decided to
postpone our trip," said Ji Myoung-hui, a member of Green Doctors.
Speculation mounted about North Korean intentions.
South Korea's unification minister Hyun In-taek sent a tough message to North
Korea in a parliamentary session on Thursday, saying he believes North Korea will
launch a long-range ballistic missile, not a satellite as it claims. The launch
-- whether it is satellite or missile -- will be a breach of the 2006 U.N.
Security Council resolution banning the North of any ballistic missile activity,
he said.
"The technologies involved in missile and space launch are basically the same.
Given the circumstances, I believe North Korea will be launching a missile," Hyun
said.
North Korea has notified international aviation and maritime agencies that it
will launch a satellite between April 4-8.
Given the North's past missile activity, there has been conflicting speculation
about the nature of the rocket the North will launch.
U.S. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair said this week that he believes
the North will launch a "space-launch vehicle" as it claims.
Pyongyang warned earlier this week any foreign attempt to shoot down its
satellite would lead to a war on the Korean Peninsula.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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