Seven remaining South Korean workers at a joint industrial zone in North Korea have returned home, completing a withdrawal from the complex after months of cross-border tensions. Seoul’s unification ministry said remaining issues had been resolved and the workers crossed back over the border on Friday evening. The Kaesong industrial complex, built 10 km north of the tense border in 2004, was once a rare symbol of inter-Korean cooperation but now faces the possibility of permanent closure.
South Korea pulled out most of its remaining workers early on Tuesday but the seven stayed to settle unresolved issues such as unpaid taxes and wages for North Korean workers, believed to amount to millions of dollars. AGENCIES
A South Korean vehicle loaded with cash would head to the North at the same time to make the payments demanded by Pyongyang, the South Korean ministry said.
Late last month, Seoul ordered all remaining South Koreans to leave after the North banned entry by southerners, pulled out all its own 53,000 workers and rejected the South’s call for talks on the impasse.