(LEAD) Inter-Korean border traffic remains normal despite N.K. warning

(ATTN: MODIFIES lead; ADDS Chinese-registered ships carrying Korean goods operating
in N.K. waters)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, May 29 (Yonhap) -- Hundreds of South Korean workers traveled to North
Korea on Friday and commercial vessels from the North continued to sail south of
the border, Seoul officials said, despite stiff warnings from Pyongyang's
military.

Amid heightened border tensions and elevated surveillance over North Korea,
inter-Korean overland and sea traffic continued as usual, said Unification
Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo.
North Korea said on Wednesday it would no longer guarantee the safety of civilian
ships and South Korean and U.S. naval vessels operating along the western sea
border, a possible warning of military action. The threat came in response to
South Korea's participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative, a U.S.-led
campaign aimed at interdicting ships and planes carrying weapons of mass
destruction.
"North Korea, while continuing to denounce the full participation in the PSI, is
observing routine procedures according to the maritime agreement," Lee said,
referring to the 2005 pact in which the two Koreas opened their sea routes to cut
travel time and fuel costs.
Two North Korean civilian boats were passing through South Korean waters, and fax
communications between the maritime authorities of the Koreas proceeded as usual,
Lee said.
About 10 Chinese-registered ships carrying South Korean fisheries imports sailed
without incident in North Korean waters, the official said. No South Korean
ships, however, were currently north of the border as they make trips only on a
weekly basis due to a decrease of humanitarian aid shipments, she said.
Over the land border, more than 340 South Korean workers traveled to a joint
industrial complex in the North's border town of Kaesong, the last bastion of
inter-Korean economic cooperation. The joint venture, just an hour's drive from
Seoul, hosts more than 100 South Korean firms producing clothes, kitchenware,
electronic equipment and other labor-intensive goods, employing over 40,000 North
Korean workers.
"North Korean workers don't seem to know about the military warnings, maybe
because their media is strictly controlled," said Ok Sung-seok, president of
clothing company Nine Mode Co. that employs about 200 North Korean workers in the
Kaesong complex.
But anxiety was growing among his peers, Ok said. Following several production
disruptions in March, when North Korea suddenly sealed the border to protest a
joint South Korea-U.S. military drill, managers at the complex are wary of what
more friction might mean for business.
Meanwhile, the armed forces of South Korea and the U.S. stood on high alert
following North Korea's nuclear test on Monday and subsequent warnings.
Surveillance over North Korea was also intensified to the second-highest level in
the five-stage "Watchcon."
Pyongyang has repeatedly said that South Korea's entry into the PSI would be
tantamount to a "declaration of war."
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)

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