North Korea on Wednesday blocked South Korean workers from entering a joint industrial complex in Kaesong, raising the prospect that the communist state may follow through on its threat to shut down the sole remaining inter-Korean economic project.
About 480 South Korean workers were denied access to the industrial zone for the first time since 2009, although workers already in the zone were allowed to leave Kaesong to return home, Seoul’s unification ministry said.
About 860 South Koreans were working in the Kaesong complex and nearly 450 people had planned to leave the area although the number has dropped to 46 after the North’s entry ban.