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| Korean Factory Complex Is Shut Down by the North | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Monday that it was withdrawing all of its 53,000 workers from the industrial park it runs with South Korea, suggesting that the North was seeking to portray itself as willing to subordinate financial gains to political and military priorities as it increased tensions on the Korean Peninsula. | SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Monday that it was withdrawing all of its 53,000 workers from the industrial park it runs with South Korea, suggesting that the North was seeking to portray itself as willing to subordinate financial gains to political and military priorities as it increased tensions on the Korean Peninsula. |
| North Korea “will temporarily suspend the operations in the zone and examine the issue of whether it will allow its existence or close it,” the country’s official Korean Central News Agency quoted a North Korean official as saying after visiting the factory complex on Monday. The official, Kim Yang-gon, a secretary of the Central Committee of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, said the final decision would depend on the South Korean government’s attitude, making it clear that North Korea was using the project’s future to pressure the South for political concessions. | North Korea “will temporarily suspend the operations in the zone and examine the issue of whether it will allow its existence or close it,” the country’s official Korean Central News Agency quoted a North Korean official as saying after visiting the factory complex on Monday. The official, Kim Yang-gon, a secretary of the Central Committee of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, said the final decision would depend on the South Korean government’s attitude, making it clear that North Korea was using the project’s future to pressure the South for political concessions. |
| The complex, in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, operated for eight years despite continuing political and military tensions, including the North Korean artillery attack on a South Korean island two and a half years ago and the cutoff of all other trade ties after the sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010. South Koreans had hoped that the North’s growing dependence on the complex as an important source of hard currency would provide South Korea with leverage on the North’s recalcitrant leadership. South Korea also thought that it could be used as a possible buffer should there be military conflict. | The complex, in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, operated for eight years despite continuing political and military tensions, including the North Korean artillery attack on a South Korean island two and a half years ago and the cutoff of all other trade ties after the sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010. South Koreans had hoped that the North’s growing dependence on the complex as an important source of hard currency would provide South Korea with leverage on the North’s recalcitrant leadership. South Korea also thought that it could be used as a possible buffer should there be military conflict. |
| But the North was angered after its threat this month to close the complex was met with skepticism from some news media analysts who said the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, would not want to risk losing the cash. On Monday, North Korea said it “gets few economic benefits from the zone while the South side largely benefits from it.” | But the North was angered after its threat this month to close the complex was met with skepticism from some news media analysts who said the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, would not want to risk losing the cash. On Monday, North Korea said it “gets few economic benefits from the zone while the South side largely benefits from it.” |
| As with many of the repressive government’s aggressive moves, closing the factory park would harm North Koreans. It is the biggest employer in Kaesong, the North’s third-largest city. It generates $90 million a year in wages for the North Koreans employed there, and shutting it down would affect the lives of 200,000 to 300,000 people in the area, South Korean analysts estimate. | As with many of the repressive government’s aggressive moves, closing the factory park would harm North Koreans. It is the biggest employer in Kaesong, the North’s third-largest city. It generates $90 million a year in wages for the North Koreans employed there, and shutting it down would affect the lives of 200,000 to 300,000 people in the area, South Korean analysts estimate. |
| Mr. Kim “is not accountable to his people, and thereby can afford to raise tension almost indefinitely at a great cost to his own people,” said Lee Sung-yoon, a North Korea specialist at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts. He recalled that the government did not change its policy even after a famine killed an estimated 10 percent of the North Korean population in the mid-1990s. | Mr. Kim “is not accountable to his people, and thereby can afford to raise tension almost indefinitely at a great cost to his own people,” said Lee Sung-yoon, a North Korea specialist at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts. He recalled that the government did not change its policy even after a famine killed an estimated 10 percent of the North Korean population in the mid-1990s. |
| Hours before the North made its announcement, South Korea said it had no intention of talking with North Korea. Doing so amid a torrent of North Korean threats to attack the South and the United States with nuclear weapons would amount to capitulation and would only embolden the North’s brinkmanship, officials here said. | Hours before the North made its announcement, South Korea said it had no intention of talking with North Korea. Doing so amid a torrent of North Korean threats to attack the South and the United States with nuclear weapons would amount to capitulation and would only embolden the North’s brinkmanship, officials here said. |
| “If the Kaesong project is stopped and we have to pull our workers completely, it will be a tremendous setback to South-North relations,” Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae of South Korea said during a parliamentary hearing. “If we can bring about concrete results through dialogue, perhaps we will swallow our pride and start dialogue, but this is not such a time.” | “If the Kaesong project is stopped and we have to pull our workers completely, it will be a tremendous setback to South-North relations,” Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae of South Korea said during a parliamentary hearing. “If we can bring about concrete results through dialogue, perhaps we will swallow our pride and start dialogue, but this is not such a time.” |
| “We don’t need photo-ops or talks for talk’s sake,” he said. | “We don’t need photo-ops or talks for talk’s sake,” he said. |
| After the announcement, the South Korean government said in a statement: “North Korea will be held responsible for all the consequences. We will calmly but firmly handle North Korea’s indiscreet action, and we will do our best to secure the safety of our people and the protection of our property.” | After the announcement, the South Korean government said in a statement: “North Korea will be held responsible for all the consequences. We will calmly but firmly handle North Korea’s indiscreet action, and we will do our best to secure the safety of our people and the protection of our property.” |
| North Korea has blocked South Korean managers and cargo trucks from crossing the heavily armed border to Kaesong for six days to protest United Nations sanctions over its February nuclear test and joint military drills that the United States and South Korea are conducting on the Korean Peninsula. The blockade quickly dried up the fuel, food and raw materials for 123 South Korean factories there. | North Korea has blocked South Korean managers and cargo trucks from crossing the heavily armed border to Kaesong for six days to protest United Nations sanctions over its February nuclear test and joint military drills that the United States and South Korea are conducting on the Korean Peninsula. The blockade quickly dried up the fuel, food and raw materials for 123 South Korean factories there. |
| More than 470 South Koreans remained in Kaesong on Monday, hoping that the North would lift the blockade. Long lines of South Korean trucks loaded with supplies for the Kaesong factories were stalled at the border. | More than 470 South Koreans remained in Kaesong on Monday, hoping that the North would lift the blockade. Long lines of South Korean trucks loaded with supplies for the Kaesong factories were stalled at the border. |
| The situation is a blow to factory owners who have invested millions of dollars during the years when the South pushed for economic cooperation as a way to encourage political reconciliation. They urged the government to start talks with North Korea to defuse tensions. | The situation is a blow to factory owners who have invested millions of dollars during the years when the South pushed for economic cooperation as a way to encourage political reconciliation. They urged the government to start talks with North Korea to defuse tensions. |
| South Korea spent nearly $1 billion to build the complex, which was begun under an agreement reached in 2000 and has been held up as a test case of how reunification of the two Koreas might look. South Korean factories hired North Korean workers, allowing the North’s Communist authorities their first taste of South Korean capitalism. Nearly 820,000 people and a half-million cars from the South have crossed the sealed border to travel there since 2005. | South Korea spent nearly $1 billion to build the complex, which was begun under an agreement reached in 2000 and has been held up as a test case of how reunification of the two Koreas might look. South Korean factories hired North Korean workers, allowing the North’s Communist authorities their first taste of South Korean capitalism. Nearly 820,000 people and a half-million cars from the South have crossed the sealed border to travel there since 2005. |
| As relations deteriorated in recent years, however, the factory park became controversial in South Korea. Some conservative South Koreans argued that the complex had helped undermine the impact of United Nations sanctions by extending a lifeline to the North Korean leadership. | As relations deteriorated in recent years, however, the factory park became controversial in South Korea. Some conservative South Koreans argued that the complex had helped undermine the impact of United Nations sanctions by extending a lifeline to the North Korean leadership. |
| North Korea has issued a daily barrage of bellicose language since early March. In the past week, it told foreign embassies in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, to consider evacuating their personnel because of rising tensions, and, according to South Korean officials, it moved one of its medium-range missiles to its east coast for a possible test launching. | North Korea has issued a daily barrage of bellicose language since early March. In the past week, it told foreign embassies in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, to consider evacuating their personnel because of rising tensions, and, according to South Korean officials, it moved one of its medium-range missiles to its east coast for a possible test launching. |
| On Monday, South Korean officials said vehicles, cargo and personnel had been detected moving near the entrance of one of two recently dug tunnels at the North’s main nuclear test site; one of the tunnels was used for a detonation in February. “For now, we don’t see them as an indication of a nuclear test,” said Kim Min-seok, a spokesman of the Defense Ministry. “But since they prepared both tunnels for the last test, we believe that once North Korea makes up its mind, it can conduct another nuclear test any time.” | On Monday, South Korean officials said vehicles, cargo and personnel had been detected moving near the entrance of one of two recently dug tunnels at the North’s main nuclear test site; one of the tunnels was used for a detonation in February. “For now, we don’t see them as an indication of a nuclear test,” said Kim Min-seok, a spokesman of the Defense Ministry. “But since they prepared both tunnels for the last test, we believe that once North Korea makes up its mind, it can conduct another nuclear test any time.” |