(2nd LD) N. Korea reopens communication channel, inter-Korean border

SEOUL, March 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Saturday restored a severed military communication channel and reopened the border for South Koreans visiting a joint industrial complex, following the conclusion of a U.S.-South Korean military exercise.

"The military communication line was reopened before 8 a.m., and North Korea
later sent a letter of approval for border traffic by fax," Lee Jong-ju, the
Unification Ministry's deputy spokesperson, said in a press conference.
North Korea cut off the only remaining phone and fax channel and shut the border
as the joint military drill got underway on March 9. It had said the suspensions
would be effective throughout the joint drill period.
"The military communication channel and border traffic to the Kaesong region
appear to have been normalized for now," she said, but noted that Seoul officials
will have to see whether the North continues to allow smooth cross-border traffic
and communications.
For sustained development of the Kaesong industrial complex, Seoul places the
utmost priority on systematic permission for overland travel to the joint
industrial zone in the North, Lee said, urging the North to continue to allow
people and cargo to travel freely to the industrial park.
As the U.S. and South Korea wrapped up their 12-day Key Resolve and Foal Eagle
drill on Friday, the North Korean military sent a letter to Seoul saying it would
restore the communication line.
During the joint drill, North Korea sealed the inter-Korean border three times,
with the latest closure on Friday. The measure threatened production in the joint
industrial complex in North Korea's border town of Kaesong, as hundreds of South
Korean workers and cargo trucks were forced to cancel their trips.
With the border reopened, hundreds of South Korean workers and trucks will resume
trips to the Kaesong complex on Saturday, the spokesman said.
The arbitrary, repeated closures over the past two weeks sparked fears about
doing business in the Kaesong complex.
Seoul's Vice Unification Minister Hong Yang-ho urged North Korea to stop
arbitrarily closing the border, saying that it "makes us question whether it is
willing to continue the Kaesong industrial complex."
Just an hour's drive from Seoul, 101 South Korean firms operate at the joint
complex, joining South Korean capital and technology with North Korean labor.
About 39,000 North Koreans are employed there, producing clothes, watches,
kitchenware, electronic equipment and other labor-intensive goods. Their combined
output was worth US$250 million last year.
The Kaesong venture is the only major reconciliatory project that remains intact
from the first inter-Korean summit in 2000. Other projects -- including tours to
the North's scenic Mount Kumgang and historic sites in Kaesong, an ancient Korean
capital -- have all been suspended as political relations disintegrated last
year.
The North Korean government received $26 million in wages from South Korean firms
last year, according to ministry data. The amount was sizable, given the North's
estimated export volume of $4 billion.
By closing the border and withdrawing the measure, analysts said, the North
showed itself to be in full command of the inter-Korean situation, while the
South had few options to take.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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