South Korea says North bans entry to industrial park

South Korean vehicles wait to head to the North Korean city of Kaesong at the customs, immigration and quarantine office in Paju, South Korea, near the border village of Panmunjom, Monday, April 1, 2013. North Korea threatened in recent days to shut down a jointly run factory complex in Kaesong — the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean rapprochement. But officials in Seoul said hundreds of workers traveled as usual across the heavily armed border to the North Korean factory Monday as they have throughout the rising tensions. AP/Ahn Young-joon

SEOUL – North Korea told South Korea on Wednesday that it was banning access to their Kaesong joint industrial park, but said South Koreans in the complex would be allowed to leave, officials said.

“The North this morning notified us that it will only allow returning trips from Kaesong and will ban trips to the complex,” Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-Suk told reporters.

Kim said the North had not specified how long the ban would remain in effect.

Describing the North’s move as “very regrettable”, Kim said his government’s first priority was the safety of the estimated 861 of its citizens currently in Kaesong.

“We expect our people currently in the North to return safely,” he said.

The industrial complex, which lies 10 kilometres (six miles) inside North Korea, was established in 2004 as a symbol of cross-border cooperation.

North Korea has always been wary of allowing crises in inter-Korean relations to affect the zone — a crucial hard-currency earner for the communist state.