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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| North Korea to close land border | North Korea to close land border |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| North Korea has announced that it will close the land border with South Korea from 1 December. | North Korea has announced that it will close the land border with South Korea from 1 December. |
| The official Korean Central News Agency made the announcement on Wednesday. | The official Korean Central News Agency made the announcement on Wednesday. |
| North Korea's army has told the South "to strictly restrict and cut off all the overland passages" across the heavily fortified border, it said. | |
| If implemented, the move will be a blow to inter-Korean relations which have deteriorated since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak came to office. | |
| And it comes despite some progress in international negotiations over dismantling North Korea's nuclear programme. | |
| 'Crucial crossroads' | |
| The decision had been taken because "reckless confrontation" from South Korea was "beyond the danger level", according to the agency. | The decision had been taken because "reckless confrontation" from South Korea was "beyond the danger level", according to the agency. |
| The KCNA report added: "The South Korean puppet authorities should never forget that the present inter-Korean relations are at the crucial crossroads of existence and total severance." | The KCNA report added: "The South Korean puppet authorities should never forget that the present inter-Korean relations are at the crucial crossroads of existence and total severance." |
| South Korean officials said they were checking Wednesday's announcement, which follows months of frosty relations. | |
| South Korea has funded the Kaesong industrial complex just over the border in the North, and a ban on border crossings would make it very difficult for the plant to continue operating. | South Korea has funded the Kaesong industrial complex just over the border in the North, and a ban on border crossings would make it very difficult for the plant to continue operating. |
| Some 30,000 North Koreans workers are employed by South Korean companies at the complex, and jobs there are highly prized. | |
| Relations between the Koreas have become increasingly strained since February when conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office in Seoul, pledging to get tough with Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons programme. | |
| Last month North Korea threatened to reduce the South to rubble unless it stopped activists sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets attached to balloons into the communist state. | Last month North Korea threatened to reduce the South to rubble unless it stopped activists sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets attached to balloons into the communist state. |
| Speculation | |
| Despite the hostile turn in inter-Korean relations, North Korea has continued to make progress in six-nation talks over its nuclear programme despite frequent setbacks. | |
| It says it is disabling its main nuclear plant at Yongbyon after the US removed the North from a blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism. | |
| The latest escalation in tension comes amid speculation that North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il may have suffered from a serious stroke, though the North has insisted he is in good health and still firmly in charge. | The latest escalation in tension comes amid speculation that North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il may have suffered from a serious stroke, though the North has insisted he is in good health and still firmly in charge. |