Seoul shuts down joint north-south Korea industrial complex
Kaesong manufacturing park, one of few remaining symbols of co-operation between the two nations, is caught up in the row over rocket tests
The Kaesong industrial complex, just north of the heavily armed border between the two Koreas. Photograph: Yonhap/EPA
South Korea is to close an industrial complex it operates with North Korea in retaliation for Pyongyang’s rocket launch last weekend, bringing to a sudden halt one of the last symbols of cooperation between the two countries.
Officials in Seoul said the decision to shut down the Kaesong complex was intended to prevent the regime of North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, from using hard currency earned through the venture to fund its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
On Sunday, North Korea launched what it claimed was a satellite into orbit. South Korea and its allies believe the launch was a covert test of missile technology that could one day be used to target the US mainland with nuclear warheads.
The Kaesong park, which lies six miles north of the heavily armed border that has separated the two Koreas for more than 60 years, opened in 2004 and was hailed as an important step towards economic cooperation and reconciliation.
The site is usually unaffected by periods of political tension between the two Koreas, although work there was severely affected after North Korea pulled its workers out in April 2013 in protest at joint military exercises by South Korea and the US.
The closure is thought to be one of the most powerful non-military options open to the South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, as she formulates a response to the recent rocket launch and last month’s nuclear test.
The South Korean unification minister, Hong Yong-pyo, said North Korea had earned 616 billion won (£355m) in cash from Kaesong, which relies on South Korean investment and technology, and tens of thousands of skilled North Korean workers.
“It appears that such funds have not been used to pave the way to peace, as the international community had hoped, but rather to upgrade its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles,” Hong told reporters in Seoul.
