N. Korea allows ailing worker to return South amid ongoing border closure

SEOUL, March 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Sunday allowed a South Korean man who
suffers from a spinal illness to return South from a joint industrial complex in
the North two days after it reclosed the border, Seoul officials said.
Pyongyang kept the border closed for a third consecutive day Sunday, stranding
hundreds of South Korean workers at the industrial complex located in the North
Korean city of Kaesong. The move is the first closure of the complex, a major
symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation, since it opened in 2004, and has sharply
increased tensions between the two Koreas.
"North Korea has accepted our request concerning the return of an employee who
has been suffering from a spinal illness," an unnamed South Korean official said,
adding the 28-year-old worker will return via train later in the day.
North Korea had allowed one South Korean and four foreign nationals to return to
the South on Saturday.
The communist state sealed off the crossing Friday for the second time in a week
to protest a joint military exercise by South Korea and the United States.
Inter-Korean relations have fallen to their lowest level in a decade after
conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office in Seoul a year ago, vowing to
get tough on the communist state and its ongoing nuclear ambitions.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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