(2nd LD) N. Korea allows 5 people to return, keeps border closed

(ATTN: CHANGES dateline; RECASTS headline, lead; UPDATES with quotes from official,
returning people, background)
By Kim Hyun
DORASAN, South Korea, March 14 (Yonhap) -- North Korea kept an inter-Korean
border crossing closed on Saturday after allowing only one South Korean and
several foreigners to return to the South from a joint industrial complex,
leaving hundreds of others stranded there.
The North sealed off the crossing a day earlier for the second time this week
amid rising tensions over its planned rocket launch. Seoul officials could not
say why the North closed the border again.
More than 760 South Koreans are currently working in the North, mostly at the
industrial park in the border town of Kaesong. About 420 of them were scheduled
to return since Friday, but the North has so far allowed only the five to leave.
"North Korea is not giving approval for passage across the border," said Yang
Chang-seok, director general of the Inter-Korean Transit Office at Dorasan
Station, just south of the border.
The South Korean who was allowed to return was getting married on Sunday. The
North also let go four foreigners -- one Australian and three Chinese -- working
in the Kaesong complex.
The groom, Kim Hyang-hee, said there was no word from North Korea and that
production continued at factories in the complex. But his LCD equipment factory
will have to stop operation if the border remains closed during the weekend, as
it will soon run out of raw materials, he said.
"Tension was not particularly high. It was business as usual," said Kim, who
works for Magic Micro Co., as he returned from Kaesong.
But Hong Yong-lan, one of the Chinese nationals allowed to return, said people
were getting nervous.
"We became worried that we may not come back in time," said Hong, who works for
underwear producer Cotton Club Co.
Scores of trucks loaded with raw materials to be delivered to Kaesong sat idle at
the transit office. Many factories will soon run out of inventory should the
border remain closed during the weekend, South Korean managers waiting in the
transit office said.
South Korea expressed "deep regret" and urged Pyongyang to immediately re-open
the border. But the Seoul government was left with limited means of communication
with North Korea after Pyongyang cut off the only remaining military phone and
fax channel this week.
Several other lines were severed last year as inter-Korean tensions flared. Since
Monday, the North has approved border crossings through hand-delivered letters.
More than 90 South Korean firms operate in the Kaesong industrial complex, a
major symbol of reconciliation and an outcome of the first inter-Korean summit in
2000. Hundreds of people and vehicles cross the military demarcation line every
day, transporting raw materials and products.
Seoul officials could only speculate on the North's intentions.
South Korea's Unification Minister, Hyun In-taek, sent a tough message to North
Korea during a parliamentary session on Thursday, saying its planned rocket
launch will draw U.N. sanctions regardless of whether it is carrying a satellite
or a missile.
Hyun also expressed doubt over the North's claim it is launching a satellite,
saying "The technologies involved in a missile and satellite launch are basically
the same. Given the circumstances, I believe North Korea will be launching a
missile."
Ministry officials could not say whether North Korea's latest action was in
retaliation to Hyun's remarks.
Pyongyang has said it will put a communications satellite into orbit and notified
international aviation and maritime agencies that the launch will take place
sometime between April 4-8. There has been conflicting speculation about the
nature of what Pyongyang is assembling, especially given its past missile
activity.
Pyongyang has warned any foreign attempt to shoot down its rocket would lead to a
war on the Korean Peninsula.
Watchers also suggest North Korea may have been provoked by South Korea arranging
a meeting between a former North Korean spy and the family of a Japanese woman
kidnapped by Pyongyang.
Kim Hyun-hui -- a self-confessed North Korean terrorist responsible for the
bombing of a South Korean jet in 1987 and now a housewife living in South Korea
-- held an emotional meeting with the family of Yaeko Taguchi, who was allegedly
abducted to the North in the late 1970s, on Wednesday. The abduction issue has
been a stumbling block for normalizing relations between North Korea and Japan.
Inter-Korean relations have disintegrated to the lowest point in recent memory
since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office a year ago, adopting a
tougher stance on North Korea's nuclear program and ending his liberal
predecessors' unconditional aid.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)