(4th LD) N. Korea allows 6 people to return, keeps border closed

(ATTN: UPDATES with one more South Korean returned, expert's view that the closure
will be temporary)
By Kim Hyun
DORASAN, South Korea, March 14 (Yonhap) -- North Korea kept the inter-Korean
border closed on Saturday after allowing several South Korean and foreign workers
to return to the South from a joint industrial complex, further raising tensions
amid damaged relations.
Hundreds of South Koreans remained stranded in the industrial complex in the
North Korean border town of Kaesong. Cross-border delivery of goods and raw
materials was also suspended.
The North sealed off the crossing a day earlier, in the second closure this week.
Seoul officials could not say why the North closed the border again.
"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 North Koreans just say they have received
no directive from the above."
The South Korean government urged North Korea reopen the border in a message sent
by a commercial phone channel, said Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun.
The North has yet to respond.
More than 760 South Koreans are currently working in the North, mostly at the
Kaesong industrial complex. About 420 of them were scheduled to return on Friday
and Saturday, but the North has so far allowed only six people who were either
foreign nationals or had urgent personal business to leave.
One of the two South Koreans who were allowed to return was getting married on
Sunday, while the other had a daughter's wedding to attend.
The North also allowed four foreigners remaining in the Kaesong complex -- one
Australian and three Chinese -- to return.
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.
"Our production was cut down 50 percent last night. It will come to a halt if raw
materials don't go in until Monday," said Kim, who works for Magic Micro Co., as
he returned from Kaesong.
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.
The Seoul government was left with limited means of communication with North
Korea after Pyongyang cut off the only remaining military hotline on Monday and
sealed the border in protest against an ongoing U.S.-South Korea military
exercise. Cross-border passage resumed the next day.
Several other lines were severed last year as inter-Korean tensions flared. Since
Monday, the North has approved crossings through hand-delivered letters. Seoul
officials have since used a commercial phone channel run by South Korean
fixed-line operator KT Co. to deliver messages to North Korea.
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.
Analysts believe North Korea has no intention to shut down the Kaesong complex,
which will further discourage foreign investors. It will likely reopen the border
when the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle military drill ends, said Hong Ihk-pyo with
the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy in Seoul. North Korea views
the annual drill as a rehearsal for war, while South Korea and the U.S. say it is
purely defensive.
"North Korea is again reminding South Koreans of the disadvantages to them caused
by tension on the peninsula, such as the military drill now under way," Hong
said.
North Korean media made no mention of the border closure but continued
denunciations of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. The Rodong Sinmun, the
North's main newspaper published by the Workers' Party, said it is not a North
Korean missile threat but Seoul's conservative government that is responsible for
heightened tensions.
"The much ado made by the Lee group about 'threat from the north' is no more than
sheer sophism," the paper said in a commentary. "The outbreak of a new war on the
peninsula is now becoming a reality due to the puppet warmongers going reckless,
bereft of any reason."
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.
Inter-Korean relations have disintegrated to the lowest point in a decade since
Lee 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)