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N Korea border factory operating despite hotline move US B-2 stealth bombers in South Korea drill
(about 5 hours later)
The North-South Korea border crossing to a joint industrial park is operating normally, despite Pyongyang cutting a military hotline on Wednesday. The US has flown two B-2 stealth bombers over South Korea as part of an ongoing military exercise.
The hotline had been used mainly to facilitate cross-border travel at the Kaesong Industrial Complex. A statement said the move demonstrated the US "ability to conduct long-range, precision strikes quickly and at will".
It was the last direct official link between the two nations. The move follows strong rhetoric from Pyongyang and comes a day after it cut a military hotline with the South.
Pyongyang has been angered by US-South Korea military drills, and the fresh UN sanctions that followed its third nuclear test in February. The hotline had been used mainly to facilitate cross-border travel at a joint industrial complex, which was said to be operating normally.
In recent weeks it has made multiple threats against both the US and South Korea, including warning of a "pre-emptive nuclear strike" on the US and the scrapping of the Korean War armistice. More than 160 South Korean commuters went through border control on Thursday morning to start work at the Kaesong complex, after being approved for entry by North Korea, officials said.
North Korea is not thought to have the technology to strike the US mainland with either a nuclear weapon or a ballistic missile, but it is capable of targeting some US military bases in Asia with its mid-range missiles.
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More than 160 South Korean commuters went through border control on Thursday morning to start work at the complex, after being approved for entry by North Korea, officials said.
North Korean authorities had used a civilian phone line to arrange the crossing, they added.North Korean authorities had used a civilian phone line to arrange the crossing, they added.
Over 500 South Koreans are scheduled to cross the border in Kaesong in Thursday. The joint project is a source of badly-needed hard currency for the North. Around 120 South Korean firms operate at Kaesong industrial park, employing an estimated 50,000 North Korean workers.
"We say that Kaesong industrial complex will go on running, even if the war breaks out. I don't feel so nervous," Jang Seon-woo, a south Korean worker, told AP news agency. 'Extended deterrence'
The joint project, which was established as a sign of North-South co-operation, is a source of badly-needed hard currency for the North. Pyongyang has been angered both by annual US-South Korea military drills, and the fresh UN sanctions that followed its third nuclear test on 12 February.
Around 120 South Korean firms operate at Kaesong industrial park, employing an estimated 50,000 North Korean workers. The hotline it severed was the last direct official link between the two nations. A Red Cross hotline and another line used to communicate with the UN Command at Panmunjom have already been cut. An inter-Korean air-traffic hotline still exists.
There have been disputes and the North Koreans have, on occasion, blocked access across the Demilitarised Zone that divides the two Koreas, who remain technically at war. North Korea has also made multiple threats against both the US and South Korea in recent weeks, including warning of a "pre-emptive nuclear strike" on the US and the scrapping of the Korean War armistice.
North Korea has already cut both a Red Cross hotline and another line used to communicate with the UN Command at Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone. North Korea is not thought to have the technology to strike the US mainland with either a nuclear weapon or a ballistic missile, but it is capable of targeting some US military bases in Asia with its mid-range missiles.
An inter-Korean air-traffic hotline still exists between the two sides, according to reports. The US military said in a statement that the B-2 flight showed US "capability to defend the Republic of Korea [South Korea] and to provide extended deterrence to our allies in the Asia-Pacific region".
'Combat posture' The two nuclear-capable planes flew from Whitman Air force Base in Missouri to South Korea as part of a "single, continuous" round trip mission during which they dropped "inert munitions on the Jik Do Range", the statement said.
The US said earlier this month that nuclear-capable B-52 bombers were taking part in the annual joint exercises with South Korea, prompting an angry response from Pyongyang.
Meanwhile, in a phone call on Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-Jin that the US would provide "unwavering" support to South Korea.Meanwhile, in a phone call on Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-Jin that the US would provide "unwavering" support to South Korea.
He also told his South Korean counterpart that the US-South Korea alliance was "instrumental in maintaining stability on the Korean peninsula," Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement. He also told his South Korean counterpart that the US-South Korea alliance was "instrumental in maintaining stability on the Korean peninsula", Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement.
On Tuesday, North Korea said it had ordered artillery and rocket units into "combat posture" to prepare to target US bases in Hawaii, Guam and the US mainland.
In a statement on Wednesday, North Korea's official news agency KCNA also said that North Korea's air force was ready to "wipe out" US military bases in Guam.
However, Guam Governor Eddie Baza Calvo described an attack as "unlikely" and urged residents not to let the threats "distract from [their] day-to-day lives".