Last South Koreans at North Korean factory to leave

A South Korean vehicle carrying boxes, returning from the North Korean city of Kaesong arrives at the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. North Korean workers didn’t show up for work at the Kaesong industrial complex, a jointly run factory with South Korea on Tuesday, a day after Pyongyang suspended operations at the last remaining major economic link between rivals locked in an increasingly hostile relationship. AP FILE PHOTO

SEOUL — South Korea says its last remaining nationals are about to leave a jointly run factory park in North Korea.

Seoul said seven South Koreans who had been negotiating North Korean wages at the Kaesong industrial complex are to leave later Friday. Their departure will push the rivals’ only remaining symbol of rapprochement another step closer to closure.

A vehicle carrying North Korean wages will cross the border at around the time the South Koreans return.

The complex is just north of the heavily fortified border. It was launched in 2004 during a previous era of reconciliation.

North Korea suspended operations at Kaesong last month. It has been the most significant action taken by North Korea to protest South Korean-U.S. military drills and U.N. sanctions imposed for a February nuclear test.